Adoption of campus IoT in Shanghai higher education: A mixed-methods UTAUT study with infrastructure and privacy extensions

Smart-campus initiatives in Shanghai have expanded rapidly, yet evidence on students’ adoption of campus Internet of Things (IoT) services remains mixed. This study integrates the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology with two contextually salient antecedents, reliable Internet connection and security or privacy concern, to explain intention to use campus IoT in higher education. We employed a cross-sectional student survey and complementary tutor interviews. The quantitative strand tested separate bivariate models for key predictors, and the qualitative strand used thematic analysis to contextualize mechanisms and barriers. Findings indicate an infrastructure-first pathway. When campus connectivity is stable and low-friction, students treat IoT as an ambient utility, and intention to use increases, while traditional cognition-centric predictors play a smaller role. Perceived usefulness remains a consistent positive driver; privacy concerns can be addressed through clear policies and visible safeguards; and brief onboarding helps novices move from trial to routine use. The study contributes a pragmatic extension of technology-acceptance work by specifying infrastructure readiness and privacy governance as first-order antecedents of adoption in higher education. Practical recommendations include campus-level connectivity targets, streamlined authentication, plain-language data-use messaging, and micro-orientations at the start of courses. Limitations include a single-city scope and a cross-sectional design; future research should validate the infrastructure-first thesis using multivariable models and multi-site samples.