Social development in the age of digitalization: A systematic literature review on Industry 4.0 implications for social sustainability

Industry 4.0 literature has grown at an unprecedented rate, offering valuable insights into the possible impacts of the digital industrial revolution at various analysis levels. Investigating the economic effects of Industry 4.0, especially at the corporate level, has been a cutting-edge research topic across various disciplines. Similarly, several studies have addressed the opportunities that Industry 4.0 might offer to environmental sustainability. Overall, the existing literature presents numerous studies – empirical, theoretical, and reviews alike – optimistically discussing how Industry 4.0 would contribute to sustainable development goals from different perspectives, such as manufacturing productivity, business growth, resource efficiency, reduced waste, and emission reduction (Oztemel & Gursev, 2019). On the contrary, the social sustainability implications of Industry 4.0 tend to be neglected by the current literature (Tirabeni et al., 2019). Unlike the overoptimism around the economic benefits, academia remains somewhat inconsistent while interpreting the social aspects linked to Industry 4.0. The present research fills this gap by conducting a state-of-the-art systematic review of the Industry 4.0 literature focusing on social sustainability implications. In particular, we aim to single out and classify the potential social implications of Industry 4.0, highlight the existing gaps in the field, and pave the way for further research.