Date of Award

5-2018

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science in Building and Construction Management

Department

Building Construction Management

Committee Chair

Luciana Debs

Committee Co-Chair

Clark Cory

Committee Member 1

Daphene Koch

Abstract

Technological advancements are redefining what is possible every day. There are various products in the market that have the potential to improve the quality of living when understood and used right. Yet a lot of people resist changes in their digital usage. The first cell phone was released in the same decade as home automation was proposed. The reason for the cell phone’s success and home automation’s failure is user adoption. The initial cell phones were underdeveloped and had their problems, but wide acceptance allowed for research to develop them into what we use today, and that has changed our lifestyles forever. The adoption started with iconic figures starting a trend of using mobile phones. This led to their followers eventually adopting the idea as the fashionable choice. Central to the success of the cell phone—one of the most revolutionary inventions in human history—was the consumers’ attitude toward it. The purpose of this thesis is to understand consumer attitudes toward technology and in this case, home automation technology in particular. This will be done using a qualitative case study method to understand a user’s experience with the technology. The study will be on two different sets of subjects, one set being the subjects living in an automated home and the other set the subjects visiting the home. This study is designed to understand the change or lack of change in the attitude of the consumer toward the technology after using it and to share users’ experiences in order to determine the pros and cons of this technology.

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