Readiness for Smart City in Municipalities in Mbabane, Eswatini

Smart city readiness entails the adoption of technological innovation, information and communication technologies by the role players to disseminate information to the citizenry to improve performance, quality of services and welfare maximization. This is why it's important to determine people's readiness for technology before they can accept or adopt them and also observe their intention to use them. The study investigated the readiness for smart city in municipalities in Mbabane, Eswatini. A quantifiable approach was taken in this research, the information was collected through online surveys and finally suggested a model for the research. One hundred and twenty-two surveys were contracted from different respondents in different municipalities. It was found that the study was reliable and valid. Results show that municipalities in Mbabane, Eswatini are ready for smart city. It also indicates that ease-of-use (EOU) has a strong influence on perceived usefulness (PU) with β = 0.570 and Sig 001, Perceive usefulness (PU)has an influence on intention of use (IOU) with β = 0.382 and Sig 001, and ease-of-use (EOU) has a strong influence on intention of use with β = 0.046 and sig = 0.475, Innovation has a strong influence on intention of use with β = 0.308 and sig 001 and Optimism (OPT) has a strong influence on intention of use with β = 0.292 and sig = 0.002. Future researchers can extend the research to different municipalities as this research was limited to municipalities in Mbabane, Eswatini only. Smart technology will help cities maintain expansion while also enhancing the efficiency for the welfare of the citizenry.