What Lies Beneath: Unravelling the Generative Mechanisms of Smart Technology and Service Design

Abstract

The rapid digitalization of products and services has given rise to smart, technological products and services in various industries. While researchers recognize the complexity of digital components embedded in smart services, there exists scarce research on the evolution of product development, smart technology’s use, and the mechanisms wherein changes in products and services are triggered and implemented. In this research, grounded on the theoretical basis of layered modular architecture, we study a digital venture in an event management industry and offer a substantive look at the three mechanisms—system-environment fitness, data exploitation, and user expansion—that are responsible for transforming smart technology from a conceptual idea into a real product and from a simple digital device into an integrated smart system. Our research findings offer theoretical insight into the dynamics and fluidity of mechanisms that are relevant to smart technology’s design, use, and outcomes.