Service sector response to the Fourth Industrial Revolution: strategies for dissemination and acceptance of new knowledge

초록

The Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) represents the ongoing fundamental transformation of the economy, based on disruptive technological change, and is not limited to the manufacturing sector but is expanding to the service sector. This study aims to establish transformation strategies for the service sector to embrace 4IR technology by investigating the firm-level determinants of its adoption and development. Our empirical analysis was performed by the integrated perspective of dissemination and acceptance of new knowledge, and we checked robustness of analysis result by verifying through various estimation methods. This study finds that, for service firms, the business family network and the external collaboration as well as the internal resources (patent rights and internal R&D) play a significant role in decision of adopting or developing 4IR technology. In the perspective of new knowledge acceptance, we found that increasing labour flexibility and labour productivity by performance incentives enhances an organisation’s capability to swiftly adjust to technological change. This study contributes to a better understanding of 4IR in the service sector with the knowledge-based and innovation resistance view, and suggests novel strategic implications for technology diffusion. © 2022 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

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