Home automation as an example of construction innovation

Home automation can contribute to the health of (older) adults. Home automation
covers a broad field of ‘intelligent’ electronic or mechanical devices in the home
(domestic) environment. Realizing home automation is technically possible, though
still not common. In this paper main influential factors for home-automation diffusion
are identified by applying innovation management theory to this specific domain. An
innovation is defined as an idea, practice, or object that is perceived as new by an
individual or other ‘unit of adoption’. For home automation, three units of adoption
are involved: the user, the health professional and the building specifier. User
adoption of home automation is influenced by its (i) relative advantage, (ii)
compatibility, and (iii) complexity. Known influential factors for home-automation
diffusion are age and health of the user and home-automation’s contribution to either
independence and autonomy, or safety of older users, as well as convenience and
comfort of younger users. However, user and innovation characteristics often do not
match. Adoption by health professionals might be influenced by the absorptive
capacity and technophobia of care organisations, number of stakeholders, and
financial structure within the care sector. Adoption decisions of building specifiers
might benefit from learning capacity, innovativeness, and absorptive capacity of the
company, and will be hampered by the building industries fragmentation and short
term orientation as is known for the adoption of sustainable construction products.
The influential factors mentioned for health professionals and building specifiers still
lack sufficient empirical support. To have home automation adopted and diffused we
need to develop tools to assess home-automation functionality for all units of
adoption during its design