The impact of adoption of digital innovation dynamics in reduce work exhaustion in SMEs in developing countries: the case of cloud of things services

Purpose There is a growing awareness in today's organizations of the gap between existing digital technologies and those arising from digital innovation that contribute to reducing work exhaustion. However, no comprehensive framework has been proposed for the importance of adopting digital innovation in reducing work exhaustion. The purpose of this paper is to provide a holistic view by proposing a model for the importance of adopting digital innovation technologies and their role in reducing work exhaustion in Iraq as a developing country, and the model was proposed based on the theory of technology-organization-environment and diffusion of innovation. Design/methodology/approach To collect data, an electronic questionnaire was designed for a survey conducted on 183 Iraqi firms in the industrial sector. For data analysis, the structured equation model was used through the (AMOS. 26) program. Findings The results revealed the importance and significance of the study model in adopting the cloud of things (CoT) as one of the techniques of digital innovation in reducing work exhaustion. Research limitations/implications The authors can conclude that the adoption of the CoT in small and medium enterprises (SMEs) can have a positive impact on the performance of the employees. The adoption of the CoT may provide SME managers with an opportunity to effectively manage various roles and responsibilities. While there were many limitations that this study faced, the authors focused on one type of digital innovation dynamics, which is the CoT, as they must focus on other technologies. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is one of the first studies in Iraq as a developing country that explains how emerging digital innovation can be leveraged to create innovative digital products and services as a CoT technology and subsequently lead to the reduction of work exhaustion. It also fills the literature gaps related to adoption factors of digital innovation and their role in reducing work exhaustion.