Summary
The study maps the state of Internet of Things research for social scientists new to the field. It combines bibliometric analysis with manual content analysis of 169 IoT articles indexed in Web of Science, a pairing chosen because either method alone misses what the other catches, giving a more accurate and reliable picture together than either could alone.
Keywords: Internet of Things, IoT, bibliometric analysis, content analysis, social science, systematic review, research direction suggestions
1. Method
| Analysis | Tool | What It Identified |
|---|---|---|
| Bibliometric | VOSviewer | Popular keywords, publication productivity, the most relevant journals and the most prolific authors |
| Content | Manual coding | Research methods, study contexts, IoT application areas, user perspectives and theories used |
The bibliometric pass maps the field at scale, showing who is publishing, where, and around which keywords, while the manual content analysis reads each of the 169 articles individually to classify method, context, application area and theoretical lens, a level of detail keyword mapping alone cannot provide.
2. Key Findings
The field needs more research on the post-adoption usage behaviour of IoT technology, meaning how people keep using it once adopted rather than only why they first adopt it, particularly for smart home technology in developing countries. The analysis also finds that researchers rely heavily on the Technology Acceptance Model and its variants, leaving room for alternative theoretical approaches better suited to IoT's distinct usage patterns.
3. Why It Matters
By synthesising bibliometric and content analysis, the authors give the field a systematic, social-science assessment of IoT scholarship and directional guidance for researchers entering an interdisciplinary area. This review set the direction for the authors' later work: the 2022 study of smart home usage and quality of life, and the 2026 study of smart home adoption using the Fogg Behavior Model.
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Cite This Paper
Leong, Y. R., Tajudeen, F. P., & Yeong, W. C. (2021). Bibliometric and content analysis of the internet of things research: A social science perspective. Online Information Review, 45(6), 1148-1166. https://doi.org/10.1108/OIR-08-2020-0358
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