Elementary School Parents’ Perceptions and Preferences for Internet of Things (IoT) Systems

This study examines elementary school parents’ perceptions, expectations, concerns, and preferences regarding the use of Internet of Things (IoT) systems from an administrative perspective. Using survey data from 453 parents with at least one child attending an elementary school, descriptive statistics, independent samples t -tests, and one-way analyses of variance were conducted to examine differences according to parental characteristics. Overall, parents reported relatively low-to-moderate levels of familiarity with IoT systems. Parental educational background and child grade level significantly influenced perceptions, with more highly educated parents and parents of younger children reporting more favorable views. Younger parents expressed more positive expectations regarding IoT systems, but also greater concern about personal information leakage. Parents showed strong demand for IoT applications related to emergency detection, environmental management, nutrition, and safety and preferred shared funding arrangements between schools and parents within clearly defined affordability thresholds. These findings suggest that parental acceptance of school-based IoT systems is conditional and shaped by perceptions of administrative relevance, governance quality, privacy safeguards, and cost fairness.