The Triple Intersection: Digital Transformation, Industry 4.0, and Sustainability-An SLR Perspective

Abstract

This study explores the connection between Industry 4.0, digital transformation, and sustainability through a comprehensive examination of the literature. Using the “Theories, Contexts, Characteristics, and Methods (TCCM) framework” and the “Scientific Procedures and Rationales for Systematic Literature Reviews (SPAR-4-SLR) protocol”, fifty-two research articles were elicited using predefined keywords and inclusion/exclusion criteria from the Scopus content. This research specifically pioneers the study of The Triple Intersection: Digital Transformation, Industry 4.0, and Sustainability-An SLR Perspective through a systematic review of 52 academic articles. The objectives of the review are to 1) analyse current research on digital transformation to find knowledge gaps and potential research topics. 2) understand the current trend of Industry 4.0, 3) evaluate their efficacy and pinpoint areas for development, study the theoretical frameworks and research methods used in the fields of “sustainability”, “Industry 4.0”, and “Digital Transformation”, 4) fill in the identified gaps, create a thorough research plan for the future. The review clarifies important developments in our understanding of the “Resource-based view theory” and the “Dynamic capabilities theory perspective”, which serve as the foundation for this study. Also, this review paper identifies persistent gaps in areas such as the change in technology changes, Sustainable practices adopted by the firms, and methodological approaches.