Citation
Wahab, Saeedi Sayed Abdul
(2019)
Intention to adopt industry 4.0 technologies among dairy manufacturers in Malaysia.
Masters thesis, Universiti Putra Malaysia.
Abstract
Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are one of key economic growth engines which
play vital roles in Malaysia’s economy. In the manufacturing sector, SMEs are
considered as the backbone of industrial development. Presently, dairy manufacturing
industry is one with high potentials; thus, ensuring production of quality of dairy
products is indispensable. Technology is one of the enablers that can assist companies
improve their performances. Consequently, high-technology companies achieve
immense competitive edge over their rivals. Improved product quality, sustained
higher productivity, reduced output errors, and improved income are among the
benefits of using technology. Recent studies have reported that Malaysia’s SMEs are
often faced with some challenges and the studies have listed low productivity,
shortages of managerial capabilities, financial problems including access to credit
facilities, and low intention of technology adoption as some of the ever existing
problems. Among these challenges, the studies revealed that intention towards
technology adoption is most crucial. Presently, SMEs are still hesitant to embrace and
adopt new technology. In attempts to fill up these gaps, the present study was
undertaken with the main purpose of determining the level of intention to adopt
Industry 4.0 Technologies among SMEs focusing on Malaysia’s dairy manufacturing
industry. The study adopted both Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) and Technology
Acceptance Model (TAM) to address the confronting issues. The two theories
consisted of six constructs in which constructs perceived usefulness (PU), perceived
ease of use (PEU), subjective norms (SN), and perceived behavior control (PBC) were
assumed as the independent variables. Construct Attitude (Att) to adopt Industry 4.0
Technologies was the presumed mediating variable, while Intention (Int.) to adopt
same was the dependent variable. A total of 156 sets of questionnaires were made
available to owners and managers of respective registered SMEs using email addresses
and face to face interviews via structural questionnaire, out of which, 114 sets
responded successfully. Partial Least Square-Structural Equation Modeling (PLS -
SEM) was used as a statistical tool to analyze collected data. The findings revealed that intention of SMEs to adopt Industry 4.0 Technologies was positively influenced
by PU, PEU, PBC and Att. In addition to direct effects of the constructs, the study
also indicated mediating effect of Att. on the relationships between PU, PEU and Int.
to adopt technologies. The study disclosed that Att, mediated both the relationships
between PU, PEU and Int. to adopt Industry 4.0 Technologies. The findings supported
the assumptions of TPB although it was confined to a sampling frame of 114 out of
156 SMEs (73.08 percent) which could impose limitation in generalization on the
adoption of Industry 4.0 Technologies. Hence, for future studies, increase in number
of respondents must be considered as utmost importance. The findings of the study
could assist managers and higher authority in SMEs and policy makers to fully
understand the impact of Industry 4.0 Technologies on their manufacturing operations
and give an insight to academicians/researchers in applying and or improving the
model while accessing other intention of technology adoption in future research. In
conclusion, the study has made an effort to determine attitude and intention of
entrepreneurs in SMEs to gain competitive benefits over rivals and for their
sustainable growth.
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Additional Metadata
Item Type: |
Thesis
(Masters)
|
Subject: |
Dairy products industry |
Subject: |
Industry 4.0 |
Subject: |
Dairy products - Quality - Research |
Call Number: |
FP 2020 23 |
Chairman Supervisor: |
Juwaidah binti Sharifuddin, PhD |
Divisions: |
Faculty of Agriculture |
Depositing User: |
Mas Norain Hashim
|
Date Deposited: |
22 Jun 2021 05:43 |
Last Modified: |
07 Dec 2021 03:53 |
URI: |
http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/89840 |
Statistic Details: |
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