Psychological readiness and expectancy-based evaluations in IoT-adoption smart music classrooms

The integration of Internet of Things technologies into smart classroom environments has become increasingly prominent in higher education, including within music education programs. However, limited research has examined how music students engage with IoT-enabled smart classrooms from both behavioral acceptance and psychological readiness perspectives, particularly in the Chinese higher education context. Drawing on an integrated framework combining the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology and the Technology Readiness Index, this cross-sectional study examined IoT adoption intention among music students enrolled in Chinese universities. Survey data were collected from 1,020 undergraduate and postgraduate music students across 12 universities with established smart classroom infrastructures. Established multi-item instruments were used to measure expectancy-based beliefs, contextual factors, technology readiness, and IoT adoption intention. Structural equation modeling and multi-group moderation analysis were employed to examine direct, indirect, and gender-based relationships within the proposed framework. The findings indicate that performance expectancy, effort expectancy, facilitating conditions, and technology readiness were significantly associated with IoT adoption intention, whereas social influence was not. Technology readiness showed the strongest association with IoT adoption and was also significantly related to both performance expectancy and effort expectancy. In addition, performance expectancy and effort expectancy functioned as parallel mediators linking psychological readiness with IoT adoption intention, with selected expectancy-based relationships varying across gender groups. By integrating perspectives on behavioral acceptance and psychological readiness, this study contributes to educational psychology and technology adoption research by offering a context-sensitive explanation of IoT adoption intention in performance-oriented learning environments, such as music education. The findings also highlight the importance of aligning smart classroom implementation with students' psychological readiness, usability expectations, and institutional support systems.