Adoption of low-code development platforms and citizen development in the Icelandic financial market

Low-code or no-code development platforms represent a technology innovation that simplifies and accelerates solution development and enables employees with limited IT expertise to design digital solutions. While adoption of these platforms has received increasing attention, empirical research remains limited in small, highly regulated markets. This study, therefore, explores the adoption of low-code development platforms and citizen development within companies operating in the Icelandic financial market and examines the factors that influence adoption decisions. An exploratory, equal-status cross-sectional mixed-methods research design was applied, combining semi-structured interviews and a survey. The analysis was guided by a conceptual model grounded in the technology-organization-environment framework, diffusion of innovation theory, and prior adoption literature. The findings indicate that governance mechanisms play a central role in shaping adoption outcomes by increasing trust and reducing perceived risk related to citizen development. Awareness and communication were found to be important for sustaining adoption over time, while explicit leadership support from top management was largely absent across companies. In addition, ambiguity surrounding the definition of low-code and no-code development platforms was identified as a challenge affecting adoption and comparability. This study provides empirical insight into low-code platform adoption in a small highly regulated market and contributes to understanding the organizational and governance conditions required to enable citizen development.