Adoption and Development of the Fourth Industrial Revolution Technology: Features and Determinants

Hyuk Chung
Additional contact information
Hyuk Chung: School of Economics, Chung-Ang University, Seoul 06724, Korea

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 2, 1-16

Abstract: Firms have been undergoing a fundamental transformation of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, and the transformation is driven by the adoption and development of innovative technology such as big data or artificial intelligence. While the impacts of the Fourth Industrial Revolution technology on economic performance have been actively documented, Korean firm-level data indicates that still, the majority of firms have not yet utilized the Fourth Industrial Revolution technology. Hence, this study examines determinants and propensity for adopting and developing the Fourth Industrial Revolution technology. Probit model estimations show that size, internal R&D intensity, the ratio of intangible assets to the sum of intangible and tangible assets, and patent rights are positively associated with adopting and developing the innovative technology, while there are sectoral differences. Notably, a strategic alliance is the most substantial factor for the propensity of adopting and developing the Fourth Industrial Revolution technology. In sum, this study finds that not only internally accumulated intangibles and R&D investment but also active collaboration with other firms can facilitate diffusion of the Fourth Industrial Revolution technology. Therefore, building up the environment to prompt collaboration can be another effective way to accelerate transformation in addition to supporting R&D and intangible investment.

Keywords: fourth industrial revolution; technology adoption; technology development; probit (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/2/871/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/2/871/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:2:p:871-:d:481636

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().