Strategic pathways to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 12 through Industry 4.0: Moderating role of institutional pressure

Abstract

Emerging economies, at the vanguard of extensive resource depletion and limited environmental stewardship, are worst‐hit by climate change events, necessitating an extensive investigation of the relevance of I4.0 in attaining sustainable consumption and production patterns. This study focuses on Sustainable Production and Consumption (SDG12) and investigates how the implementation of I4.0 can contribute to the adoption of circular economy practices (CEPs) to incorporate elements of sustainable consumption and procurement into supply chains. Based on dynamic capabilities theory, institutional pressure, and the triple‐bottom‐line perspective, this study proposes an overarching research framework that presents the synergistic convergence of dynamic capabilities, I4.0, and the circular economy to achieve SDG12. This framework is empirically validated through a survey‐based, cross‐sectional research design by utilizing conditional process modeling. This study employed purposive sampling where respondents constituted 480 industry practitioners and professionals in digital supply chain and operations management from manufacturing firms based in the Baddi and Alwar districts in India. The findings demonstrate that I4.0 and CEPs sequentially mediate the impact of dynamic capabilities on SDG12, while mimetic pressure strengthens the impact of exploitation‐oriented strategy on SDG12.