Identifying factors influencing industry 4.0 adoption for sustainability

PurposeThis study explores the adoption of Industry 4.0 in developing countries' export industries, focusing on factors influencing this adoption, the moderating role of market pressure and prioritizing key factors for sustainable growth.Design/methodology/approachBased on the “TOE theory” this study has proposed a research framework to identify the factors influencing the adoption and sustainable implementation of Industry 4.0 in the export industry. This study has collected valid datasets from 387 export-oriented industries and applied SEM-ANN dual-stage hybrid model to capture linear and nonlinear interaction between variables.FindingsResults revealed that Technical Capabilities, System Flexibility, Software Infrastructure, Human Resource Competency and Market pressure significantly influence the Adoption of Industry 4.0. Higher market pressure as a moderator also improves the Industry 4.0 adoption process. Results also pointed out that system flexibility is a gray area in Industry 4.0 adoption, which can be enhanced in the export industry to maintain a sustainable adoption and implementation of Industry 4.0.Originality/valueMinute information is available on the factors influencing the adoption of Industry 4.0 in export-oriented industries. This study has empirically explored the role of influential factors in Industry 4.0 and ranked them based on their normalized importance.