The Use of Artificial Intelligence for Smart Decision-Making in Smart Cities: A Moderated Mediated Model of Technology Anxiety and Internal Threats of IoT

With the rapid development of artificial intelligence (AI), AI for smart decision-making is attracting a lot of attention, but research on this topic in smart cities is not yet comprehensive. Thus, the current research aimed to examine the direct and indirect (via technology anxiety) relationships between artificial intelligence (AI), technology anxiety, and smart decision-making (SDM). The research article also examines the moderating role of internal threats of IoT on AI and technology anxiety and the relationship between AI and smart decision-making. 614 cross-sectional data gathered from participants from public and private sectors in Turkey were utilized to investigate the aforementioned relationships. The results indicated that AI had a positive influence on smart decision-making. AI contributes negatively to technology anxiety. Technology anxiety has a negative effect on smart decision-making. Technology anxiety partially mediated the direct effect of AI on smart decision-making. The results revealed that internal threats of IoT moderated the negative relationship between AI and artificial intelligence, such that the negative relationship is further strengthened when internal threats of IoT are high. The results also indicated that internal threats of IoT moderated the positive direct relationship between AI and smart decision-making, such that the positive relationship is weakened when internal threats of IoT are high. The findings present crucial practical implications for government and local authorities in building smart cities.