What Drives Industry 4.0 Adoption? An Examination of Technological, Organizational, and Environmental Determinants
Arnold C, Veile J, Voigt KI (2018)
Publication Language: English
Publication Type: Conference contribution, Conference Contribution
Publication year: 2018
Conference Proceedings Title: International Association for Management of Technology (IAMOT) Conference
Event location: Birmingham
Abstract
Industry 4.0 refers to a novel production approach characterized by an entirely digitized and connected industrial value creation (Kagermann et al. 2013). This is associated with several benefits, e.g., increased resource efficiency, higher degrees of customization, and novel business models (Bauernhansl 2014; Kagermann et al. 2013; Rehage et al. 2013). Nevertheless, manufacturing companies show differences regarding adoption intensity and extent (Schmidt et al. 2015). Hence, it is the purpose of this paper to examine, which factors determine the adoption of Industry 4.0 in German manufacturing companies.
This study relates to technology adoption literature. Previous studies in this field revealed significant differences between different companies regarding the adoption of new technologies (Schmidt et al. 2015). In this context, renowned literature identified various factors that determine the adoption of different technologies by manufacturing companies. Since to date, there are no academic studies that examined relevant factors determining the adoption of Industry 4.0 as a comprehensive concept, this represents a clear research gap.
To address this gap, the technology-organization-environment framework of DePietro et al. (1990), which has been successfully employed in several previous IT adoption studies, is applied. In total, the applied model contains nine constructs. A quantitative study was carried out among German manufacturing companies using a survey questionnaire as an instrument for gathering data. The final sample consists of 197 usable responses. The developed hypotheses were tested using a logistic regression.
This study reveals valuable insights with regard to relevant adoption factors in the context of Industry 4.0. In particular, the results show that relative advantage associated with Industry 4.0, support by a company’s top management, and high levels of competition positively influence Industry 4.0 adoption, while environmental uncertainty is the only determinant that negatively affects Industry 4.0 adoption. The study further reveals no significant influence of perceived challenges, firm size, absorptive capacity, and perceived outside support. In doing so, this study provides the first analysis of factors that determine the adoption of Industry 4.0. Further research is still recommended as only German manufacturers were analyzed and there was no differentiation between small and large companies. Additionally, there are still various other potentially influencing factors, which are not addressed by this study.
The results show important managerial implications for companies at the threshold of implementing Industry 4.0 in their company. By revealing relevant factors that influence the adoption of Industry 4.0, this paper provides managers with valuable insights regarding important aspects to look at. This study is among the first to analyze relevant adoption determinants especially for Industry 4.0. In this course, several factors stemming from three perspectives, i.e., technology, organization, and environment, are examined in one study. The results give a first indication about relevant determinants influencing Industry 4.0 adoption behavior of manufacturing companies.
Authors with CRIS profile
Christian Arnold
Lehrstuhl für Betriebswirtschaftslehre, insbesondere Industrielles Management
Johannes Veile
Lehrstuhl für Betriebswirtschaftslehre, insbesondere Industrielles Management
Kai-Ingo Voigt
Lehrstuhl für Betriebswirtschaftslehre, insbesondere Industrielles Management
How to cite
APA:
Arnold, C., Veile, J., & Voigt, K.-I. (2018). What Drives Industry 4.0 Adoption? An Examination of Technological, Organizational, and Environmental Determinants. In International Association for Management of Technology (IAMOT) (Eds.), International Association for Management of Technology (IAMOT) Conference. Birmingham, GB.
MLA:
Arnold, Christian, Johannes Veile, and Kai-Ingo Voigt. "What Drives Industry 4.0 Adoption? An Examination of Technological, Organizational, and Environmental Determinants." Proceedings of the International Association for Management of Technology (IAMOT) Conference, Birmingham Ed. International Association for Management of Technology (IAMOT), 2018.
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