Industry 4.0 technologies, sustainable operations practices and their impacts on sustainable performance

Using a natural resource-based view and technology-organization-environment framework as the theoretical focus, this paper develops and tests a research model in which sustainable operations practices mediate the impact of industry 4.0 technologies on sustainable performance. The model also tests sustainable operations practices as a moderator of the effect of industry 4.0 technologies on sustainable performance. Data obtained from 302 participants in Turkey's technology development regions were utilized to gauge the aforesaid linkages via partial least squares structural equation modeling. As predicted, sustainable operations practices mediate the influence of industry 4.0 technologies on sustainable performance. Contrary to the study prediction, sustainable operations practices do not significantly moderate the impact of industry 4.0 technologies on sustainable performance. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed and future research directions are offered.

Automated summary

With a natural resource-based view and technology-organization-environment framework, this paper establishes and tests a research model, in which sustainable operations practices play a mediating role in the impact of industry 4.0 technologies on sustainable performance. The model also examines sustainable operations practices as a moderator of the effect of industry 4.0 technologies on sustainable performance. Data collected from 302 participants in Turkey's technology development regions were analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling. The findings confirm the mediating role of sustainable operations practices in the influence of industry 4.0 technologies on sustainable performance. However, contrary to expectations, sustainable operations practices do not significantly moderate the impact of industry 4.0 technologies on sustainable performance. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed, and future research directions are suggested.