## 4 Theoretical Rationale
### The TOE Framework  
The TOE framework considers technological, organizational, and environmental contexts that affect new technology adoption in organizations [87]. The technological context indicates the technical aspects of new technology that have an effect on the adoption of the innovation [87]. Contrastingly, the organizational context refers to the accessibility of the organizational characteristics and resources required to enhance technology adoption in organizations [87]. As for the environmental context, it represents the external factors surrounding the organization that could affect adoption decisions, such as government regulations and external pressure [87].  
Contrary to the DOI theory, the TOE framework examines the internal-organizational environment and the external-environmental contexts, as they can affect technology adoption in organizations. The TOE framework demonstrated a high explanatory power of variance in adopting IT innovations [8]. Furthermore, the TOE framework has proved its ability to explain adoption behavior for innovations related to business administration and innovations integrated into core business procedures [82]. The TOE framework was used in this study to investigate IoT challenges in the MS in more detail in the three TOE contexts.  
In the technological challenges, two constructs were considered to have an impact on the adoption decision: security and privacy concerns and implementation cost. IoT technology relies on data exchange via the Internet and the network, which may enhance the security and privacy risks and reduce the utility of IoT technology [11; 16; 18; 27; 31; 34]. Besides the high initial investment costs, other costs related to implementation are considered a huge barrier to adoption [9; 27; 28; 29; 31; 32].  
In terms of the organizational challenges, three constructs were identified: employees' resistance, organizational readiness, and top management support. Employees' attitude is critical for technology adoption success. Employees often tend to refuse the new technology, fearing losing their jobs which the technology may replace [31; 38]. Similarly, the lack of organizational readiness, such as financial, human, and technical resources, and unwillingness to take on the risk associated with IoT implementation, are considered disincentives to IoT adoption [16; 26; 27]. Top management support plays an important role in IoT adoption; therefore, the lack of technological awareness among top management and their perception of the IoT as not having strategic priority challenge the adoption of the IoT [18; 42; 53].  
Regarding the environmental challenges, two constructs were considered as challenging IoT adoption: vendor issues and government regulation. The IoT is a new technology and needs continuous technical support from vendors; however, IoT vendors and suppliers lack good-quality technical support and training, which renders IoT solutions ineffective [27; 31]. In contrast, the other challenge is the limitation of government regulation and policies that support the use of IoT technology, which raises concerns about data protection;thus, the lack of sufficient government regulations can discourage organizations from adopting IoT technology [16; 25; 26; 34].