A FRAMEWORK FOR INTERNET OF THINGS (IOT) ADOPTION AMONG STUDENTS AND STAFF OF HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS IN KEBBI STATE, NIGERIA

The Internet of Things (IoT) technologies are emerging that present great potential to transform higher education, including the concept of smart classrooms, intelligent laboratories, automated administration, campus resource management, environmental monitoring, and data-driven operations. Despite these advantages, the adoption of IoT in Nigerian higher education institutions (HEIs) particularly Kebbi State (HEIs) is still limited due to behavioural, technological, organizational and environmental factors. The study proposes the development of a UTAUT and TOE framework for modelling the adoption of IoT in Nigerian HEIs by combining the technology organization environment (TOE) and Unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) framework. A quantitative survey design was used and data collected from 375 respondents, which included students, academicstaff and administrative staff of the HEIs in Kebbi State. The proposed relationships were assessed using statistical analysis. Results show that the factors of Performance Expectancy (β = 0.26), Effort Expectancy (β = 0.14), Facilitating Conditions (β = 0.18), Technological Factors (β = 0.17) and Organizational Factors (β = 0.23) have significant influence on IoT adoption while Social Influence (β = 0.05, p = 0.239) and Environmental Factors (β = 0.06, p = 0.153) are not. The model accounted for 64% (R2=0.64) of the variance in IoT adoption. The results indicate that perceived benefits, ease of use, enabling conditions, technological appropriateness, and organizational capability are key factors in the adoption of IoT in the Nigerian HEIs. The study offers an integrated and parsimonious model that integrates the acceptance of individual IoT devices with the conditions for institutional adoption and offers guidance to the university administrator, ICT manager, policymakers, and other stakeholders interested in supporting sustainable digital transformation using IoT technology.