Determining the Critical Failure Factors for Industry 4.0: An Exploratory Sequential Mixed Method Study

Critical failure factors (CFFs) are the key factors where “things must go wrong” for the I4.0 implementation to be a failure or that do not meet the intended objectives. CFFs provide a set of indicators or identifiable conditions so that problems can be identified and addressed before they fail. This article uses an exploratory sequential mixed method design to investigate the CFFs for I4.0. In the first explorative qualitative phase, 26 senior managers participated through a purposive sampling frame. The article finds ten CFFs: lack of I4.0 strategy, absence of well-designed smart product/service systems, lack of digital supply chains, leadership is not supportive for I4.0, poor human resource management for I4.0, absence of I4.0 technology transformation management plan, I4.0 is not implemented totally, lack of top management support for I4.0, poor change management strategies in place, and inadequate consideration of sustainability in I4.0 initiative. In the second quantitative phase, 156 senior managers participated in an online survey. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA), confirmatory factor analysis, and ranking of CFFs were carried out. The findings on CFFs will help the practitioners and organizations to identify, monitor, and control these factors while implementing I4.0. Moreover, a good understanding of the failure factors will help organizations to avoid the failure in the implementation of I4.0.