Training as a facilitator for Industry 4.0

Authors

  • Vito Di Sabato Faculty of Economics and Management, Institute of Economics and Management, Slovak University of Agriculture in Nitra https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8072-0136
  • Radovan Savov Faculty of Economics and Management, Institute of Economics and Management, Slovak University of Agriculture in Nitra

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1108/REGE-12-2021-0208

Keywords:

Training, Human resources, Competences, Industry 4.0, Smart factory, Barriers to change

Abstract

Purpose

This paper studies the impact of certain characteristics of companies to training programs in the Industry 4.0 (I4.0) context. Partial objective is to rank the main human barriers companies have to overcome so that they can digitalize.

Design/methodology/approach

To accomplish the objectives, a closed-ended questionnaire was sent to Slovak and Italian companies and analyzed using statistical nonparametric tests. The partial objective was achieved using the so-called Henry-Garrett’s ranking method.

Findings

Results show the significance impact of companies’ characteristics such as foreign participation and company dimension on training practices whereas economic situation (financial health) seems not to influence it.

Research limitations/implications

The study may lack generalizability as only 102 answers were collected. Perhaps, the outcome would be different with another sample from other countries. Moreover, using closed-ended questions, certain features may not have been covered.

Practical implications

Companies should always guarantee training for the resulted benefits. It is fundamental for organizations to find a time gap, resources and professionals who can teach these programs. Even when companies are incurring financial problems they should do so since human capital development can increase their competitiveness. The most critical barriers should be carefully addressed by companies. Training can help to overcome I4.0 barriers related to Human Resources (HR) and contribute to its growth.

Originality/value

This paper gives insights of the impact of certain characteristics of companies to the training programs. Because past research has limited their analysis on the identification of barrier, its novelty lies in the attempt to rank the most significant barriers among those detected by other authors in previous research.

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Further reading

Elhusseiny, H. M., & Crispim, J. (2022). SMEs, barriers and opportunities on adopting industry 4.0: A review. Procedia Computer Science, 196, 864–871. doi: 10.1016/j.procs.2021.12.086.

Piccarozzi, M., Aquilani, B., & Gatti, C. (2018). Industry 4.0 in management studies: A systematic literature review. Sustainability, 10(10), 3821. doi: 10.3390/su10103821.

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Published

2024-09-17

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How to Cite

Training as a facilitator for Industry 4.0. (2024). REGE Revista De Gestão, 31(3). https://doi.org/10.1108/REGE-12-2021-0208