In the modern world that has become highly digitalized, more individuals prefer to work remotely rather than perform tasks at the office. As a result, the Working from Home (WFH) concept has experienced shifts, facilitating the process of incorporating more smart home innovations. This study aims to use the systematic review approach to study the application of the smart home technologies, specifically Internet of Things (IoT), in the context of working from home during the COVID-19 pandemic. It was found that device manufacturers, utility companies, and house planners try to market their products and services as techniques to simplify life and save time. As a result, employees can access all corporate features, incorporate sustainable approaches, and digitalize the household. Though specific challenges make smart home systems vulnerable, the benefits of such a concept are found to optimize work and operations for both employees and businesses.
Introduction
As remedies to COVID-19 have been developing, technology and data collide in unprecedented. It is becoming evident that the outbreak of coronavirus has not only transformed the way many companies work but has hastened the demise of countless firms worldwide (Amankwah-Amoah et al. 2021). This paper explores the literature on the evolution of digitalization in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has resulted in the widespread adoption of smart homes and is expected to continue. Furthermore, several technologies that have become especially important under these circumstances will be emphasized.
From a critical perspective, the post-COVID-19 era has hastened the transformation from traditional work modalities to remote working. The paradigm shift has been occasioned by the technological advancements witnessed over the years. More specifically, working from home has shifted from the traditional perception of domestic workers and caregivers to more advanced professions such as banking, teaching, and engineering, among others. Though subtly, several research studies have revealed the importance of working from home. In their explanations, different studies have tried to explain the benefits of employees’ rising need to work from home.
By evaluating different articles about working from home in the current era, it can be deduced that home working has its advantages as well as disadvantages. Working from home in a fully smart home has introduced new possibilities for how organizations operate in addition to structuring themselves (Ipsen et al. 2021). With the breakout of COVID-19, working from home has offered some employers the flexibility they require to continue their business operations while prioritizing the health and safety of their workers (Okuyan and Begen 2022). Indeed, before the coronavirus pandemic, there was a rising trend of working from home because various organizations had established the advantages it could bring to their businesses.
Within unforeseeable conditions, organizations are forced to digitize their working practices regardless of their resources and skills. The pandemic has provided an opportunity to investigate the sustainability of remote work in a new setting where employees are confined to their homes (Rana et al. 2021). Such circumstances, on the one hand, put pressure on both firms and employees. On the other hand, the case has blurred the lines between home and work activities and locations. The usage of smart homes has expanded tremendously as work and home areas have merged into a hybrid environment.
Thus, this study aims to explore the details of applying smart home technologies within the work from home setting in the context of coronavirus-associated restrictions. The research has great potential because the technologies have gained wider popularity during the pandemic and will continue within the upward trend due to the changes in overall work-life balance. Exploring both advantages and disadvantages of the technologies will allow for the more effective implementation of them in practice during the post-COVID-19 era.
Theoretic Framework
Remote working or teleworking are terms that are interchangeably used but are related. Pioneer research was fuelled at a time when working from home meant working away from the workplace, basically utilizing technological communication as a substitute for commuting (Diab-Bahman and Al-Enzi 2020). Currently, teleworking is defined as a form of flexible work that involves remote work, which is dependent on the use of information and communication technologies. However, modern teleworking processes entail three major forms of working.
Important forms of teleworking are home-based telework, teleworking from remote offices, and mobile telework. Home-based telework is a category of remote working that involves low or high-skilled duties that are done at home. On the other hand, teleworking from remote offices refers to working in which jobs are done far away from the main office or headquarters using communication technologies. Mobile telework incorporates the completion of assignments that are ordinarily done by those who routinely work away from their working base. Interestingly, the COVID-19 pandemic changed the notion of teleworking to mean working from home, or as it is referred to as remote working.
Today, smart homes make people’s lives easier more convenient day-to-day. Many manual tasks have become automated or considerably improved with the help of smart devices. The smart home concept entails the use of Internet-connected solutions that can be operated remotely from the smartphone or tablet (Gupta et al., 2021). The COVID-19 pandemic had a drastic influence on the future of smart home gadgets, resulting in their rapid adoption because people have begun transforming their living environments into places where they can work and study effectively (Maalsen & Dowling, 2020). The move of many organizations to remote work has been a critical factor in the development of smart houses. This has led to a surge in the creation and spread of smart home technologies, which are strongly linked to the new working circumstances.
Methodology
Published papers from various peer-reviewed journals linked to the development of smart homes and digitalization in the age of COVID-19 were summarized as part of the search for relevant material. Various internet databases and Google Scholar were used to conduct the literature search. (JStor May 2022) Science direct (May 2022), ACM digital library(April 2022) – three results, Scopus (May 2022), Elsevier (May 2022), Sci-Hub – three results, UTS Library (March 2022) – three results, and the Free Library were among the databases used. The search was made using a specific combination of phrases and keywords (refer to the abstract). To evaluate eligibility and gather information about the study, each of the publications was examined. Since the research issues discussed are extensive, the majority are narrative studies.
Research Questions
Several research questions (RQ) were formulated for this study. They are the following: RQ1: How have the smart house technologies been adopted to serve their purpose in users’ homes? RQ2: What are the characteristics of the smart home environment? RQ3: What is the role of cyber-security technologies in smart houses? RQ4: What is the relevance of Internet of Things (IoT) in the context of smart home technologies? RQ5: How has the smart home context changed due to the social shifts brought by the COVID-19 pandemic?
Research Approach
A systematic review evaluation approach was used for this literature review. Its goal was to find papers that described the issue in question. The narrative review is a conventional method of examining the literature that focuses on a qualitative interpretation of past knowledge (Snyder 2019). This review style may be beneficial for gathering and summarizing the body of literature on a particular topic area. Its primary goal is to present thorough information to the reader to grasp existing knowledge and underline the necessity of new research (Snyder 2019). Descriptive reviews can assist researchers in generating new ideas by finding gaps or inconsistencies in the corpus of knowledge, thus allowing to construct research questions or hypotheses.
There is a small set of literature on the usage of smart home technology. Most prior studies have focused on smart house technologies from a technological standpoint. In contrast, another area of studies has explored the services that smart home products can deliver. While the research on smart homes suggests that technology can enhance living circumstances and housekeeping duties, there is little evidence that smart homes have an influence on work-related results. The study used a systematic approach to analyze and synthesize materials relevant to the smart home phenomenon. Furthermore, the given research discusses the concept of the smart home, its benefits to remote work, and possible threats. The study’s objective is to identify future trends of smart homes and their influence on remote work.
Results
The literature exclusively dealing with the issue of smart home development and its relation to the future of work-from-home settings is relatively scarce. However, several articles discuss this issue within the broader topic of digitalization and the Internet of Things (IoT). Several studies touch upon the issue of possible dangers of further digitalization of working conditions and its direct link to the development of smart homes, cities, and innovative building concepts. Overall, the way in which smart home technologies will help people work from home in the future relies on several sets of factors, which are directly or indirectly discussed in the allocated research literature. The working environment is considered crucial in this regard.
Adoption of Smart House Technologies
There are still two basic ways to categorize and understand smart houses, based on whether they rely on living spaces or power systems. Marikyan et al. (2019) establish the first category by identifying them as homes with Information and Communication Technology (ICT). Waleed et al. (2018) pointed to the increasing cost-effectiveness of a smart home; hence, a wider range of people can enjoy the benefits of smart home and pursue remote working. Currently, numerous technologies containing sensors can be embedded in smart homes. Schieweck et al. (2018) emphasize the importance of the constant development of the smart home to be up to date with the technological growth taking place over the years. This paper thus analyses the future trends of smart homes, such as their simplicity, cost-effectiveness, multi-purposefulness, and flexibility, especially since they entail the use of a smartphone. The system design is user-friendly and successfully tested and assessed by various users. However, there is a need for the integration of high-resolution cameras and more security features to enable the ubiquitous adoption of this cost-effective system for those working remotely (Waleed et al. 2018). The system should be expanded in order to be used by several people; for example, everyone in the house who owns an iPhones.
The justification for adopting smart homes is matching the supply and demand in real-time and reducing peak time, as well as assisting in integrating more distributed renewable generation into electricity systems. Scholars specializing in energy industry issues assume that energy efficiency is directly related to a home’s integration of smart solution. However, this assumption is limited by the idea that a smart home is not occupied by people who can significantly affect energy outcomes (Gram-Hanssen and Darby 2017).
Researchers have emphasized the importance of proper level automation in increasing the adoption of smart homes and using these spaces for remote work. Despite the smart homes’ growing popularity and advantages, people have not vastly responded to the trend due to limited consumer demand, high device prices, and long device replacement cycles that inhibit smart home diffusion (Yang et al. 2018). Thus, a significant challenge is linked to the disregard of social aspects and issues integrating and distributing smart home services. Researchers have previously analyzed smart homes but ignored user attributes and their environments. Most approaches focus on technology entirely and experiments; hence they do not consider what an individual would need from a smart home to enjoy working and living there. According to Yang et al. (2018), controllability, reliability, and interconnectedness significantly affect users’ satisfaction. Interestingly, automation is not a defining factor because people generally seek more effective and safer options of remote feature management instead of highly automated services. Thus, users feel much safer when they can control the devices hence the need for a limited form of automation. Apartment residents prioritize interconnectedness and controllability, while house owners prefer reliability and automation. Men are more likely to be drawn to interconnectivity of devices, while women choose reliability over other traits because they are more risk-averse (Yang et al. 2018). However, the study is limited because its main findings are based on South Korean data. Thus, future studies need to be geographically and ethnically diverse to generalize the results (Yang et al. 2018). The study sheds light on the specific factors that will ensure the adoption of smart home services and their customization based on such characteristics as gender, age, and living conditions. The study is a foundation for customizing smart home services for remote work according to the different user preferences.
The commercial smart home platforms often limit their multi-user support, giving house residents different levels of information, as evidenced by SmartThings (Geeng and Roesner 2019). Consequently, tensions and challenges arise between remote workers sharing a similar smart home. Researchers have conducted a mixed-methods study that included 18 subjects, primarily those pushing to adopt smart devices in their homes (Geeng and Roesner 2019). The researchers observed an outsized role of the installer of the smart home devices in terms of selection, control, and fixing of these devices. There were tensions in device selection and installation, users not knowing what to do when things go wrong, regular device usage, and the long-term changes in homes (Geeng and Roesner 2019). The central themes included power, agency, technical interest, and skill difference between active and passive users working in a smart home. The drivers get more functionality from working remotely, while the inactive users depend on them for their comfort (Hargreaves and Wilson 2017). According to the study, the co-occupants of the smart home minimally voiced their privacy concerns. However, this forms part of the study’s limitations as they had a bias in their selection of subjects, with the subjects mainly being smart home drivers (Geeng and Roesner 2019). They may be unaware of the severe concerns that passive users may have. From the preceding, smart home designers should include multi-user functionalities during the account creation process to streamline the process for all the residents, especially those working from home.
Remote Work Environment
Many scholars agree with the statement that a remote work environment will become optimal in the near future due to the increased adoption of smart house systems. According to Guan et al. (2022), smart work will imply a home workplace environment where data flow is be rapid and straightforward. Existing options include integrating a secured WFH setting, with the latest intelligent gadgets “sitting” on the same network (Guan et al. 2022). Users at home subsequently obtain options such as user and remote access, multi-level network security, web filtering, customer support available 24/7, as well as a corporate management dashboard, all of which are available via an easy-to-use smartphone app (Guan et al. 2022). Additionally, smart home systems are beneficial for businesses that may see the spending on office areas and equipment decrease drastically (Guan et al. 2022). Thus, the concept of smart home technologies and remote work will grow in demand.
Cyber-security in Smart Houses
Researchers claim that the smart home phenomenon can be detrimental to both employee and business’ privacy. Because of WFH’s unique contextual consistency, specifically, surroundings, it should be noted whether these remote conditions are influenced by personal smart home products (Abdi et al. 2021). For example, when a client is in a secret conference, the smart home gadget might capture voice recordings or confidential materials (Abdi et al. 2021). Butt et al. (2021) further claim that cyber-attacks on remote employees working from home have significantly escalated due to the global pandemic. Cyber attackers have identified the vulnerability of both corporate and private users and abused customers for monetary gain and espionage purposes (Georgiadou et al. 2021). Perpetrators intend to exploit unprotected smart homes via the Internet of Things to obtain access to enterprise networks (Butt et al. 2021). This means that homeowners must be especially cautious of this modern technology.
Relevance of Internet of Things (IoT)
IoT technologies are expected to play a significant role in the post-pandemic environment. IoT has swiftly become one of the most well-known commercial and technical terms in the light of the COVID-19 pandemic (Yousif et al. 2021). The Internet of Things, when combined with other technologies such as cloud computing and the embedding of actuators and smart sensors, makes it easier to interact with smart devices, allowing access from multiple locations, increasing data exchange efficiency, and improving storage and computing power (Umair et al. 2021). The research by Umair et al. (2021) showed that these improvements are likely to influence remote work habits and are ideally suited to make it simpler to maintain the work environment.
However, while IoT-based technology has the potential to revolutionize the way we live beyond COVID-19, further research and validation is required before widespread use (see Figure 1). Security and privacy problems are critical obstacles to installing smart infrastructures and have been the focus of much research. Home automation attacks, for example, have grown widespread, with cybercriminals using Internet of Things (IoT) devices to gain access to a more extensive network (Gupta et al. 2021). The move to a digital office employing smart houses is being hampered by factors such as organizational inflexibility, cash-based company practices, and the digital divide in the case of small businesses.
There are differences between research and the practical deployment of artificial intelligence in smart homes. Although research has been conducted to investigate artificial intelligence in smart homes, there is little information and material on how to integrate the products. Guo et al. (2019) evaluated smart home goods, technological trends, and the link between smart home items and literature. They perform product and literature reviews to identify the responsibilities and tasks of artificial intelligence in smart homes and examine their relevance (see Figure 2). According to their research, the six critical tasks of artificial intelligence in smart homes are data processing, activity identification, picture recognition, speech recognition, projection, and decision making (Guo et al. 2019). Activity recognition involves recognizing human activity and analyzing sensor data to detect actions and alert residents of abnormal activity. Data processing entails analyzing data to extract information from various sources and recognize intrinsic relationships (Kopytko et al. 2018). Voice recognition is used in the famous Alexa and employs voice-driven technologies that allow the interaction between people and artificial intelligence through conversation. Image recognition can analyze the physical attributes of humans, while decision-making involves deciding which action is the most appropriate in consideration of the input data (Kopytko et al. 2018). In terms of forecasting, sensors create data gathered by the computer network and archived for processing and producing trends, patterns, and forecasts (Kopytko et al. 2018). These functions are responsible for the trends in adopting smart home technology, as shown in the diagram below.
Researchers found that artificial intelligence products have six functions in smart homes: entertainment, energy management, personal robots, healthcare, intelligent interaction, and security. There are limited publications on applying artificial intelligence products, with the existing literature based primarily on new research. However, one can observe an increasing number of studies and applications of artificial intelligence in smart homes. Since 2015, healthcare-based research has decreased steadily, while intelligent interaction studies have increased (Guo et al. 2019). Energy management is another field with intensifying research; hence, one may deduce that in the future, the trend will focus on the interactions between the environment and people, smart home customization, and increasing the sustainability of smart homes. The findings of product reviews indicated that decision-making is a popular reason for adopting artificial intelligence in smart homes.
Interestingly, artificial intelligence functions are disproportionate between the products and literature distribution. For example, there are limited studies on voice recognition and image recognition, although they encompass most artificial intelligence products (Guo et al. 2019). Notably, when the technology matures in the coming decades, more products will utilize the various ranges of technology that artificial intelligence offers (Guo et al. 2019). The multiple functions of artificial intelligence are expected to meet more consumer needs and enable them to interact with the technology in their everyday routines seamlessly; hence, it will positively influence remote work.
Fakroon et al. (2019) address the security issues at smart homes by proposing an efficient and anonymous authentication scheme for secure communications in smart homes. They emphasize the resource constraints of IoT devices and their deployment in unmonitored and insecure environments (Fakroon et al. 2020). Device identity and mechanisms for authentication help in securing IoT infrastructure. However, conventional authentication schemes require large computations that IoT devices cannot undertake due to limited resources. In addition, many IoT devices lack the processing capability and storage capacity needed to implement current authentication methods that rely on costly cryptographic techniques (Ali et al. 2022). These mechanisms need user intervention regarding provisioning and authentication. Using password-based methods is no longer an option, especially after the Mirai IoT botnet destroyed a considerable portion of the network in a distributed denial-of-service assault. Passwords are easily cracked, and many IoT systems lack a password authentication mechanism. As a result, there is a need for a new approach and protocol to robustly authenticate IoT agents while catering to the IoT ecosystem’s environmental and architectural constraints.
Although authorization techniques for remote smart home access have been proposed, they are neither safe nor easy enough to accommodate a smart house’s IoT resource-constrained components. They ignore physical context knowledge, such as geolocation and transaction history, which are critical in preventing known authentication assaults such as the Mirai attack (Fakroon et al. 2020). The authors of the stud used anonymous authentication and integrated situational awareness with transaction records in their concept for remote access to smart homes. The proposed system’s advantages are that it avoids clocking synchronization problems and does not store verification data (Fakroon et al. 2020). The study revealed that the suggested strategy was more cost-effective than the others regarding bits and messages sent. However, it was less cost-effective than one of the previously proposed ones because they had more safety features and functionality verification between user and gateway and stolen smartphone threat, password reset attack, mutual authentication between customer and gateway, and physical situational awareness (Fakroon et al. 2020).
Furthermore, employers can be involved with their workers’ health through smart homes. According to Verma and Sood (2018), the Internet of Things (IoT) technology is a dependable and organized technique for handling healthcare services delivery features such as telehealth and health care. Fog-computing programs run on the edge of network devices rather than in cloud computing data centers (Verma and Sood 2018). It generates enormous amounts of data that cloud computing can process. It collects health data from various medical and IoT sensors and notifies one of any unfolding adverse events. At the network’s edge, this architecture employs sophisticated technologies and services such as distributed memory, integrated data mining, and notification systems (Debauche et al. 2019). The research results on this issue show that the model is highly accurate and has a high response time than other classification algorithms. The data helps companies make decisions based on the employee’s real-time health care data, enhancing the proposed system’s value.
Development of Smart Home in Relation to COVID-19
Besides the potential benefits of future smart home offices, several studies considered the downsides and difficulties in their development. Umair et al. (2021) named the expenses and technical expertise necessary for home automation as two of the most significant impediments to smart home development in the current era (Umair et al. 2021). This necessitates the effective integration and analysis of data created and gathered from many sources.
To make smart adoption easier, the customization limit must be lowered. Plug-and-play solutions must be developed so that they can be installed and utilized by those who do not possess any complex technical skills (Umair et al. 2021). It was brought to attention that as a result of these advancements, the energy sector’s expanding demand must adapt to the changes brought about by COVID-19 in human lifestyle and energy consumption habits (Yousif et al. 2021). People will likely spend more time at home in the future, and the energy consumption is shifting away from commercial enterprises and households (Rapuano et al. 2020). Gupta et al. (2021) stated that in smart houses and smart buildings in general, energy supply and billing should be optimized based on occupancy patterns. Thus, technology allows accessing work from home and widens the home environment’s bounds. In the post-pandemic setting, the rapid integration and acceptance of technology in the home are likely to continue (Rana et al. 2021).
Aside from the theoretical research on the issue of smart homes and their relation to work-from-home settings, there are some practical considerations and examples. As demonstrated through them, smart home technologies definitely benefit people working remotely. A smart house, for example, may provide parents control over their children without disturbing them from their job. In this scenario, home security cameras in a child’s bedroom, playroom, or wherever they spend time can be a solution. Access live camera feeds from anywhere in the house through the particular application (Maalsen and Dowling 2020). Controlling settings is another advantage of working from home (Rana et al. 2021). The smart home thermostat, for instance, makes it simple to regulate temperature and humidity in the home office, promoting comfort and productivity in the workplace.
Discussion
The literature review results indicate that the smart homes involve using various digital equipment and promoting sustainability and security. Most scholars agree that a smart home is beneficial for remote employees because it enhances efficiency and productivity (Mustajab et al. 2020). However, researchers claim that smart homes involve technological vulnerability that can be abused by cyber attackers who can obtain private data for personal gain.
Nowadays, a series of events led industries and numerous businesses to adapt to the new reality, exploring innovative ways of employment. Meanwhile, employees explore the concept of a smart home that utilizes in-built technologies that can be controlled remotely as some digital equipment does not need human monitoring. The benefit of such an approach is a significant increase in productivity. Thus, remote work and the smart home concept might be considered a promising combination that can gain more popularity in the future.
Importance of a Smart Environment
A remote working environment represents new performance qualities, techniques, and situations that are influenced by the environment itself and relevant equipment. Rana et al. (2021) research proved beneficial in examining the link between task and technology fit, which is crucial because people may stop using technologies if they detect a mismatch between the task’s needs and the capacity to accomplish them (Rana et al. 2021). Smart homes can help people control their work environment and boost productivity. Voice-activated assistants and other smart home technologies provide seamless communication and automation, making virtual collaboration easier (Umair et al. 2021). Furthermore, smart houses are thought to improve the efficiency of completing personal duties. Remote work applications such as monitoring workplace conditions demonstrate the importance of smart home technology services (Amankwah-Amoah et al. 2021). Some of the literature suggests that creating pleasant working conditions while working from home is linked to individual task performance, which, in turn, has a good impact on job results (Purwanto et al. 2020). Given the advantages of smart homes in terms of providing comfort, their implementation might help improve the settings for remote work, which is critical for greater productivity and well-being (Gupta et al. 2021). Smart homes are vital in this respect and give the required comfort, while the advancement of this component is expected to be critical in the future for working from home.
Importance of a Smart Home
Smart homes are gaining immense popularity due to their helpful features. According to Strengers and Nicholls (2017), improving productivity and making everyday tasks easier has always been a focus of consumer advertising. The concept of a smart home is no different in its goal of making life and work simpler through technological and integrated commerce (Strengers and Nicholls 2017). The incorporation of internet-enabled products and equipment into the design of the house is at the heart of this strategy. Smart home supporters believe that a significant positive aspect of this time-efficient way of life is connected with energy-efficient usage, which may be reached via simplicity and streamlining of processes.
Limitations
During the pandemic, various institutions advised their employees to work from home (Diab-Bahman and Al-Enzi 2020). As a challenge, this paper explored information security as a challenge that bedevils smart workers. The increase in the problem of cyber-attacks is attributed to the rise in the number of those who are working from their homes (Butt et al. 2021). Clearly, the COVID-19 pandemic period acted as the turning point for a paradigm shift in work modalities.
Since the review depended heavily on research conducted amid the COVID-19 pandemic, there are limitations regarding the reliability of the information. Ideally, people tend to be attracted to surveys if there is a monetary gain attached to them (Bolisani et al. 2020). Therefore considering the special conditions of isolation and a challenging economic situation due to COVID-19 lockdowns, the reliability of the studies might be compromised (Georgiadou et al. 2021). Few samples were collected for some surveys as few individuals came forward for the survey. As such, the error is cascaded further to this particular review.
Conclusion
The current discussion about working from home is grounded on the technological advancements in the communication, science, engineering, and mathematics sector. Smart working is currently embraced by the advanced professions that were traditionally office-dependent because of the COVID-19 and guidelines that are presented against the disease. Compared to any other phenomenon, working from home has advantages and disadvantages.
Incorporating smart home concepts is predicted to increase due to helpful and accessible features. Employees who work from home can obtain such features as remote network access, network security, web filtering, and a corporate management dashboard. The smart home concept provides time-efficient features that facilitate the successful implementation of work tasks. Moreover, it is beneficial to companies since smart homes for employees and remote work decrease business’ costs. Smart working eliminates the need for one to travel over some distances to go to a workplace. The pros are derived from the organizations which then dependable, effective, and responsive. The benefits that both the employer and employee receive are correlational because they depend on others, and a benefit enjoyed by one party ignites the rise of another advantage.
However, the model of smart working has its shortfalls. A notable weakness of working from home is that the model does not match everyone because of the variation in people’s needs, abilities, and preferences. With disregard for the uniqueness of each individual, it is most likely that homeworking creates social detachment in an employee. An additional challenge to the smart working paradigm is the difficulty that arises when more than one worker is to be monitored from a control center by the employer. Other disadvantages of working from smart working entail disruption from the home environment, the likelihood of burnout, high costs for establishing home working stations, and the inability to maintain career development.
References
Abdi, N., Zhan, X., Ramokapane, K., and Such, J. 2021. “Privacy Norms for Smart Home Personal Assistants,” in Proceedings of the 2021 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, pp. 1-14.
Ali, O., Ishak, M., Bhatti, M., Khan, I., and Kim, K. 2022. “A Comprehensive Review of Internet of Things: Technology Stack, Middlewares, and Fog/Edge Computing Interface,” Sensors (22:3), p. 995.
Amankwah-Amoah, J., Khan, Z., Wood, G., and Knight, G. 2021. “COVID-19 and Digitalization: The Great Acceleration,” Journal of Business Research (13:5), pp. 602-611.
Bolisani, E., Scarso, E., Ipsen, C., Kirchner, K., and Hansen, J. P. 2020. “Working from Home During COVID-19 Pandemic: Lessons Learned and Issues,” Management & Marketing. Challenges for the Knowledge Society,(15:1), pp. 458-476.
Butt, U. J., Richardson, W., Nouman, A., Agbo, H. M., Eghan, C., and Hashmi, F. 2021. “Cloud and its Security Impacts on Managing a Workforce Remotely: A Reflection to Cover Remote Working Challenges. In Cybersecurity, Privacy and Freedom Protection in the Connected World, H. Jahankhani, A. Jamal and S. Lawson (eds.), New York, NY: Springer, pp. 285-311.
Diab-Bahman, R., and Al-Enzi, A. 2020. “The impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Conventional Work Settings,” International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy (40:9/10), pp. 909-927.
Fakroon, M., Alshahrani, M., Gebali, F., and Traore, I. 2020. “Secure Remote Anonymous User Authentication Scheme for Smart Home Environment,” Internet of Things (9:2020), p. 100158.
Geeng, C., and Roesner, F. 2019. “Who’s In Control?,” in Proceedings Of The 2019 CHI Conference on Human Factors In Computing Systems. Web.
Georgiadou, A., Mouzakitis, S., and Askounis, D. 2021. “Working From Home During COVID-19 Crisis: A Cyber Security Culture Assessment Survey,” Security Journal (35), pp. 1-20.
Gram-Hanssen, K., and Darby, S. 2017 “Home is Where the Smart Is”? Evaluating Smart Home Research and Approaches Against the Concept of Home,” Energy Research & Social Science (38:2018), pp. 94-101.
Guan, A. L. C., Manavalan, M., Ahmed, A. A. A., Azad, M. M., and Miah, M. S. 2022. “Role of Internet of Things (IOT) in Enabling Productive Work from Home (WFH) for Environmental Volatiles,” Academy of Marketing Studies Journal, (26:1), pp. 1-11.
Gupta, D., Bhatt, S., Gupta, M., and Tosun, A. S. 2021. “Future Smart Connected Communities to Fight the COVID-19 Outbreak,” Internet of Things (13:4), pp. 254-280.
Guo, X., Shen, Z., Zhang, Y., and Wu, T. 2019. “Review on the Application of Artificial Intelligence in Smart Homes,” Smart Cities (2:3), pp. 402-420.
Maalsen, S, and Dowling, R. 2020. “COVID-19 and the Accelerating Smart Home,” Big Data & Society, (7:2), pp. 205-209.
Marikyan, D., Papagiannidis, S., and Alamanos, E. 2019. “A Systematic Review of the Smart Home Literature: A User Perspective,” Technological Forecasting and Social Change (138), pp. 139-154.
Rana, O., Ranjan, R., Papagiannidis, S., and Marikyan, D. 2021. “Working in a Smart Home-Office: Exploring the Impacts on Productivity and Well-being,” Web Information Systems and Technologies, (21:10), pp. 275-282.
Snyder, H. 2019. “Literature Review as a Research Methodology: An Overview and Guidelines,” Journal of Business Research (10:4), pp. 333-339.
Strengers, Y., and Nicholls, L. 2017. “Convenience and Energy Consumption in the Smart Home of the Future: Industry Visions from Australia and Beyond,” Energy Research & Social Science (32), pp. 86-93.
Umair, M., Cheema, M. A., Cheema, O., Li, H., and Lu, H. 2021. “Impact of COVID-19 on IoT Adoption in Healthcare, Smart Homes, Smart Buildings, Smart Cities, Transportation and Industrial IoT,” Sensors (21:11), pp. 38-71.
Yousif, M., Hewage, C., and Nawaf, L. 2021. “IoT Technologies During and Beyond COVID-19: A Comprehensive Review,” Future Internet, (13:5), pp. 105-129.
Ipsen, C., van Veldhoven, M., Kirchner, K., and Hansen, J. 2021. “Six Key Advantages and Disadvantages of Working from Home in Europe During COVID-19,” International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (18:4), p. 1826.
Purwanto, A., Asbari, M., Fahlevi, M., Mufid, A., Agistiawati, E., Cahyono, Y., and Suryani, P. 2020. “Impact of Work from Home (WFH) on Indonesian Teachers Performance During the COVID-19 Pandemic: An exploratory study,” International Journal of Advanced Science and Technology (29:5), pp. 6235-6244.
Okuyan, C., and Begen, M. 2022. “Working From Home During the COVID‐19 Pandemic, Its Effects on Health, and Recommendations: The Pandemic and Beyond,” Perspectives in Psychiatric Care (58:1), pp. 173-179.
Lacey, K., Gray, C., and Spector, P. 2021. “Remotely Stressed: Investigating Remote Work Stressors, Employee Burnout, and Supervisor Support,” Academy of Management Proceedings (2021:1), p. 15896.
Mustajab, D., Bauw, A., Rasyid, A., Irawan, A., Akbar, M., and Hamid, M. 2020. “Working From Home Phenomenon as an Effort to Prevent COVID-19 Attacks and Its Impacts on Work Productivity,” The International Journal of Applied Business (4:1), pp. 13-21.
Rapuano, V., Raišienė, A., Varkulevičiūtė, K., and Stachová, K. 2020. “Working from home—Who is happy? A survey of Lithuania’s employees during the COVID-19 quarantine period,” Sustainability (12:13), p. 5332.
Waleed, J., Abduldaim, A., Hasan, T., and Mohaisin, Q. 2018. “Smart Home as a New Trend, a Simplicity Led to Revolution,” in 1St International Scientific Conference of Engineering Sciences – 3Rd Scientific Conference of Engineering Science (ISCES), 2018. Web.
Verma, P., and Sood, S. 2018. “Fog Assisted-IoT Enabled Patient Health Monitoring in Smart Homes,” IEEE Internet of Things Journal (5:3), pp. 1789-1796.
Appendix
Table: Advantages and disadvantages of working remotely from home
Acknowledgements
This document was adapted from the Instructions for Authors from ICIS2007 (which in turn was adapted from the AMCIS templates), PACIS 2007, ACIS 2011, ACIS 2010, ACIS 2008, ACIS2007, ACIS 2006, and the ACIS 2005 Instructions, which were an extension of the ACIS 2004 instructions, much of which was adapted from the ACIS 2003 and ACIS 2002 Instructions, which were based on the ACIS’98 Instructions (which was adopted from ACIS’97 Instructions). These in turn were adapted from an “Instructions for Authors” written by Roger Clarke. The new format, use of the Creative Commons license and support for DOIs was added by John Lamp in 2015.
Copyright
Copyright © 2022 [Joseph Bloggs]. This is an open-access article licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial 3.0 Australia License, which permits non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and ACIS are credited.