“…The economic stability has a direct impact on the growth and development of a nation, and South Africa is not an exception in this respect (Santangelo, 2018; Carmody, 2019). South Africa, originally called as Republic of South Africa (RSA) is a fast‐evolving nation (Hassan and Ngwenya, 2006; Abata and Migiro, 2016; Kotze et al ., 2020); and it is acclaimed as one of the prominent economies in the African continent (Poonyth et al ., 2001; Adeyeye et al ., 2017; Niyimbanira et al ., 2020). Its growth in terms of science, technology and innovation especially connected to Industry 4.0 is adding feathers to its achievements with every passing year (Beaudry and Portier, 2006; Gupta et al ., 2013; Pradhan and Bagchi, 2013; Bekiros et al ., 2016; Stahel, 2016; Gupta et al ., 2018; Kovacs, 2018; Dhamija and Bag, 2020; Dhamija et al, 2020).…”