How leadership enhances absorptive capacity for industry 4.0 technology adoption through social integration mechanisms
基于吸收能力理论，研究领导力如何通过社会整合机制促进工业4.0技术在大型跨国企业工厂中的采纳，发现高层管理者使用变革型领导，而中层和一线领导采用工具型领导来创建学习、共同开发和反馈等机制。
Purpose Using absorptive capacity theory, we explore the factors affecting the adoption of Industry 4.0 technology in daily operations and examine how leadership enhances absorptive capacity through social integration mechanisms (SIMs). Design/methodology/approach To follow the implementation of a connected worker programme (a type of Industry 4.0 technology) between 2023 and 2025, a single embedded case design was used within four factories of a large multinational firm. The reflective R-TEAM approach included meetings with senior management, key informant interviews, qualitative surveys and group interviews. Findings The factories showed a shift in absorptive capacity capabilities. Initially, top managers used transformational leadership to learn about and initiate the connected worker programme. As organisational transformation and programme exploitation proved difficult, middle managers and frontline leaders adopted instrumental leadership behaviours. These leaders created three SIMs: learning from app usage, co-development and feedback and training. This improved the factories' ability to adopt the programme, with headquarters aspiring to build a comprehensive ecosystem for data-driven decision making at all levels. Originality/value Our study expands absorptive capacity theory by exploring how SIMs affect realised absorptive capacity and its drivers. It also incorporates transformational and instrumental leadership at various levels to explain improvements in SIMs and organisation's absorptive capacity. We draw a conceptual model for Industry 4.0 technology adoption to guide future research.