SME’s Behavioural Intention Towards IR 4.0 Technology in Malaysian Halal Food Industry

Abstract

This study analyzed the motivation for utilizing IR 4.0 technology among Malaysian SMEs in the Halal food industry. The Malaysian government has encouraged SMEs to adopt and implement the IR 4.0 technology by providing grants and training funds. However, most SMEs still needed to exploit the government's encouragement to utilize IR4.0 technology in business, especially in the Halal industry.Therefore, it is essential to fill the knowledge gap and provide valuable insight into investigating the level of awareness and willingness of halal food industry players to adopt and implement IR 4.0 in their business. Thus, this study uses coercive, normative and mimetic isomorphism as variable factors to investigate the behaviour intentions of SMEs in Malaysia's Halal food industry to adopt IR 4.0. Furthermore, the voluntariness of use as a moderator were examines whether it could alter the connections discovered in technology adoption models. Moreover, this investigation employs partial least square structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM). In addition, 218 middle-to top-level management respondents from the SME that produce Halal food were examined. The study uses descriptive statistics, confirmatory factor analysis, and path coefficients. In this investigation, SmartPLS software was utilized.Findings show that coercive and normative isomorphism significantly affected SMEs' behavioural intentions. However, mimetic isomorphism was not significant. For the moderator, only coercive isomorphism has a significant result. This study has important implications for researchers, practitioners, and policymakers to understand the potential benefit and challenges related to the integration of IR4.0 technologies in the Halal food industry in Malaysia.