The influence of industry 4.0 technologies, external stakeholder pressures, and organizational motives on the adoption of sustainability practices: A multiple case study from a firm’s perspective within the Dutch manufacturing industry 4.0 context
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2021-06-28
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en
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This master thesis examines how industry 4.0 technologies, external stakeholder pressures, and organizational motives influence the adoption of sustainability practices by firms in the Dutch manufacturing industry 4.0. This is important knowledge to be gained since sustainability is an important and current topic for organizations and their viability. Moreover, since stakeholders, organizational motives, and industry 4.0 technologies play important roles in working towards sustainability, these concepts and their interplay is addressed in this research. The relationships between these concepts are investigated in a qualitative way via twelve semi-structured interviews with top Dutch manufacturing 4.0 organizations such as Philips, ASML, and VDL. The findings indicate that industry 4.0 technologies are used to a lower than expected extent. Nevertheless, specific industry 4.0 technologies and/or practices such as big data analytics and supply chain integration are used by companies within the Dutch manufacturing industry 4.0 to monitor the sustainability need of their stakeholders (customers), and to implement sustainable product solutions to fulfill this need. This shows both a ‘normal’ as well as a mediating role of the importance of industry 4.0 technologies in the (faster) pursuit of an organization’s sustainability purposes (imposed by stakeholders). Moreover, it was found that organizations adopt sustainability practices when faced with different external stakeholder pressures and when having certain types of organizational motives. Ultimately, this thesis can be used by organizations as a guideline on what types of industry 4.0 technologies for sustainability they can apply, and what kinds of pressures and motives are important to become sustainability-oriented as a company.
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Faculteit der Managementwetenschappen