Disentangling the link between ICT and Industry 4.0: impacts on knowledge-related performance

Abstract

PurposeIndustry 4.0 technologies are promising to increase manufacturing companies' performance through the new knowledge that such digital technologies allow to create and manage within the firm boundaries and through customer interactions. Despite the great attention on the Industry 4.0 adoption paths, little is known about the relationships with previous waves of digital technologies, namely, information and communication technologies (ICTs), and how different groups of both types of technologies link to knowledge and its related performances.Design/methodology/approachThe study employed a quantitative research design using a survey method. Submitting the questionnaire to entrepreneurs, chief operation officers or managers in charge of the operational and technological processes of Italian manufacturing firms, 206 respondents stated that their firm has adopted at least one of the seven Industry 4.0 technologies investigated.FindingsThe findings of the study highlight the positive relationship between ICT and Industry 4.0 technologies in terms of both intensity and groups of technologies (Web-based, Management and Manufacturing ICT; Operation, Customization and Data-processing 4.0), and how technologies affect knowledge-related performances in terms of products and processes, job-learning, product-related services and customer involvement.Originality/valueThis study is one of the first attempts to link groups of ICT to groups of Industry 4.0 technologies and to explore the effects in terms of knowledge-related performances as a measure of technology use. The study shows strong path dependency among ICT, Industry 4.0 and knowledge performance, enriching the literature on technological innovation and knowledge management.

Overcoming pandemic challenges through product innovation: The role of digital technologies and servitization

“…However, this may depend on the different adoption rates and maturity levels of ICT and Industry 4.0 technologies ( Matt et al, 2021 ; Pirola et al, 2020 ). Firms could have a better understanding of a ‘relatively old’ technology, such as ICT, than of a ‘relatively new’ one, such as Industry 4.0 technologies ( Bettiol et al, 2021a ).…”

“…The first group of technologies consisted of the more mature digital technologies (ICT), such as websites, social media, e-commerce, and CRM, which firms use to interact with customers and/or manage their relationships with them ( Kumar & Pandey, 2018 ; Kim, 2020 ). The second group of technologies consisted of Industry 4.0 data-processing technologies as follows: big data, cloud, IoT, and AI ( Bettiol et al, 2021a ; Culot et al, 2020 ). Then, following the recent literature ( Agostini & Nosella, 2019 ), we proceeded with the ‘dummification’ of these items by assigning a value of 0 to ‘not used’ and ‘lower use’ (values 1–4 on the Likert scale) and a value of 1 to ‘higher use’ (values 5–7 on the Likert scale) for each technology.…”

“…Research has highlighted the relevance of digital technologies in the COVID-19 pandemic scenario in helping SMEs achieve business continuity and overcome the radical challenges posed by the pandemic ( Papadopoulos et al, 2020 ). In the wide technological context, there are multiple digital technologies that SMEs may invest in or leverage, characterized by different levels of adoption maturity ( Matt et al, 2021 ; Pirola et al, 2020 ) and different degrees of newness ( Bettiol et al, 2021a ; Culot et al, 2020 ). In this regard, firms may leverage the use of the more mature digital technologies included in the ICT domain ( McAfee, 2006 ), such as the web-based technologies and/or information systems that can manage customers (e.g., customer relationship management technology – CRM) to promote innovation, and the use of the more recent Industry 4.0 data-processing technologies, such as big data and analytics, cloud, Internet of Things (IoT), and artificial intelligence (AI), to develop new effective marketing strategies ( Davenport et al, 2020 ; Porter & Heppelmann, 2015 ).…”

“…The second group of technologies consists of Industry 4.0 data-processing technologies, which, as mentioned earlier, include big data and advanced analytics, cloud, AI, and IoT ( Bettiol et al, 2021a ; Culot et al, 2020 ). Industry 4.0 data-processing technologies are specifically designed to expand a firm's knowledge base so that the firm can identify new strategic directions.…”

Servitisation and performance in the business-to-business context: the moderating role of Industry 4.0 technologies

“…Chauhan and Singh, 2019;B€ uchi et al, 2020) and then considering real and operational performance indicators (e.g. Szasz et al, 2021;Tortorella et al, 2019;Bettiol et al, 2021). Industry 4.0 refers to a various group of technologies that go beyond the simple information and communication systems, but there is no universally accepted definition or clear measurement of Industry 4.0 (Culot et al, 2020).…”