Understanding Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Factors in the Smart Home Innovation-Decision Process: A Systematic Literature Review

This systematic literature review examines the role of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors within the smart home innovation-decision process. Due to the potential for smart home technologies (SHTs) to foster sustainability, which is a superordination of ESG, such analysis is critical. Within the smart home context, no article combines all three ESG components in one body of research. The literature also does not distinctly connect ESG aspects with the innovation-decision process. Understanding this potential connection could help to increase the adoption of SHTs. By applying an open coding process, this literature review integrates ESG factors into the five stages of the innovation-decision process. Findings from this framework extension suggest that, environmentally, the literature covers ecological facets, energy efficiency, and sustainability. Socially, acceptability, psychology, socialization, sociodemographic implications, societies, and networks are significant. While governance factors address board characteristics and business models, further research is necessary. Moreover, future research should differentiate between the investor and the end-consumer perspective while enhancing insights on all three ESG components.