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Why does technology policy around Industry 4.0 continue to draw on technology change approaches developed in the 1960s?

Chris Ivory and Lewis Walsh  Anglia Ruskin University

26th INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE
ON EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES
AND FACTORY AUTOMATION
2021
VÄSTERÅS,
SWEDEN
SEPTEMBER 7th-1 2021

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Policy intervention and consultancy around industry 4.0/5.0 is dominated by a simplistic linear, techno-optimist and individualizing conceptual model of technology change. This conceptual model diverts research funding, consultancy effort and academic analysis away from more nuanced and informed approaches to technology change  We  should  be paying more attention to  the social, economic and organizational contexts within which firms formulate decisions  about technology change. Innovation Management needs to be understood as a contextualised practice – not as simply barrier to or conduit for change.

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2.5%
Innovators
Early
Adopters
13.5%
Early Majority
34%
Late Majority
34%
Laggards
16%
Source: http://blog.leanmonitor.com/early-adopters-allies-launching-product/

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The underpinning assumptions of the model

Technology is a “... seemingly perpetual mechanism of continual expansion”  ( Mokyr, 1990) logically then, any (single) firm not adopting the latest technology is getting in the way of progress The non-adopting firm is problematic - they are suffering internally from or themselves creating ‘barriers to adoption’ The technology diffusion model (Rogers, 1962) is emblematic of this techno-optimist and linear logic Techno-optimist  because the assumption is that technology is an unalienable good Linear and deterministic  because technology diffusion is a one way processes – it  continues until it reaches every corner of the diffusion medium / population  / industry sector(s)

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Wait a minute – this is a psychology theory!?

COMMUNICATION CHANNELS
Know ledge
Characteristics Of the
decision-making unit:
Persuasion
Perceived characteristics
Of the innovation:
Decision
Implementation
Confirmation
I . Adoption Continued
Later adoption
Di scontinuance
Continued rejection
1.
2.
3.
Socio-economic
charzwteristics
Personality
Cornm unieation
beha viour
2.
3.
4.
S.
Relative advantage
Cornpatibil ity
Comp ity
Trialability
C)bservabi I i ty

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Delotte’s  2019 industry survey found that many CEOs were  still reticent  to commit to industry 4.0.  McKinsey Digital (2016) and UK Industrial Digitisation (2017) make the same complaint:  firms lacking ( the right leadership, skills needed to enact organizational change)  over-cautious  with regards R&D investments,  failing to prioritise  organizational change or simply  lacking in confidence .

General conservatism and  lack of ambition  can pervade  whole regions  (e.g.  Stentoft ,  Rajkamur  and Madsen, 2017)

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Circular argument - a ‘laggard’ ‘late adopter’ ‘straggler’ is a label given to an observed behaviour, but it is not an explanation of it. The model offers a what, but not a why. Pays no attention to context (Shove, 1993). Ignores relative power and conflicts within existing institutional arrangements (Shove, 1993) It ignores the veracity of the technology itself. It reduces what are complex, grounded strategic IM decisions to something analogous to a personality traits – organisations and even whole regions become anthropomorphised.

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Barriers to diffusion model is bad for research

“Sociologists, economists and market analysts are then charged with the secondary tasks of removing blockages and easing channels of communication so as to allow proven technologies to flow unhindered into everyday practice”. (Shove, 1993, 1108). Research funding given to clear ‘barriers to innovation’, to ‘support industry 4.0 adoption’ amongst SMEs effectively demands that we abandon neutrality – become techno-optimists and technology determinists.

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How do we get by without the ‘barriers to diffusion’ model?

We should treat  non-adoption  and  adoption  symmetrically .   What does the decision to adopt or not adopt tell us about what’s happening in an industry, the economy, in management and technology.  We can draw on sociological thinking around consumption Question the idea that innovation drives growth

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Deloitte’ s ‘ Industrie  4.0’ 2019 survey reports:

20.7 percent of manufacturing organizations surveyed rated themselves as  “highly prepared” to address the emerging business models  the Fourth Industrial Revolution.  Frontrunners  (26 percent), strongly believe in the business value of adopting new technology solutions for digital transformation and are ready to use the new technologies.  Followers  (51 percent) generally believe in the business value of new technology solutions, but lag on readiness.  Stragglers  (23 percent) are not yet on board with the business value of new technology solutions and are behind on  adoption readiness .

Why does technology policy around Industry 4.0 continue to draw on technology change approaches developed in the 1960s?

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