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Indicators for each stage of adoption

Stage of adoptionIndicatorApplicationDescriptionReferences
Pre-adoptionCompatibilityCloud computing adoption in SMEsThe degree of perception to consider the adoption of new technology when technology is recognised as compatible with work application systemsPriyadarshinee et al. (2017)
Perceived ease of useUser IT acceptanceThe degree, to which an adopter believes that using a particular system would be free of effortHameed (2012), Davis (1989)
Perceived usefulnessUser IT acceptanceThe degree, to which an adopter pursues a particular technology to the extent at which one believes that it will improve the performance of a taskHameed (2012), Davis (1989)
Flow experienceUser IT acceptanceThe extent, to which an adopter experiences an optimal mental state of being fully immersed, focused and involved in tasks, activities, or initiatives an adopter is undertaking for the I4.0 implementationPilke (2004)
Internal information sourcesIT adoption by organisationsInternal information that may have been acquired at one time from previous experience and past information searches, or passively through low-involvement learning, where consumers are repeatedly exposed to marketing stimuliJeyaraj et al. (2006)
External information sourcesIT adoption by individualsExternal information acquired from the environment, and this represents a conscious effort to seek out new informationJeyaraj et al. (2006)
ObservabilityThe degree, to which the results of an innovation are observable from those who have already adopted the innovation
Perceived riskIoT services adoptionThe level of an adopter's uncertainty in the aspect of anticipated costs, sacrifices, and losses when a new technology is adoptedHsu and Lin (2016)
Perception of the term Industry 4.0Cloud computing adoption in SMEsThe degree of an adopter's awareness of the term “Industry 4.0”, and the extent, to which they evoke technology adoptionPriyadarshinee et al. (2017)
Subjective importance of tasksInnovation adoptionThe extent, to which the importance of the task of configuring systems and satisfaction are derived and ranked relative to the importance of and satisfaction with other five tasks: face-to-face selling, sales planning, answering technical questions, administrative work, and other internal work of the corporationChor et al. (2014)
Technological innovativenessInnovation adoption; IT innovation adoption in organisationsThe extent, at which organisations tap and harness technologies that lie beyond their formal boundariesSharma et al. (2016), Chor et al. (2014), Hameed (2012), Rogers (1995)
AdoptionCompetitive price intensityInnovation adoptionThe frequency of price-cutting taking place at a particular organisationChor et al. (2014)
The emergence of the global distribution networkCloud computing adoption in SMEsThe level of existence of a mechanism that helps a supplier widen the range of targetsPriyadarshinee et al. (2017)
CEO advocacyInnovation adoptionThe degree, to which the highest official of an organisation provides supportive actions for innovationChor et al. (2014)
Financial evaluationAssimilation of innovations in hospitalsThe level of the process of evaluating various projects, budgets, businesses, and further finance-related subsidiaries to agree on their viability for investmentMeyer and Goes (1988)
Innovation in business modelsPrototypical implementation in an industrial machine; innovation of dietary supplement shops; reconfiguration tactics in electric vehicle manufacturersThe extent, to which new technologies or business ideas are translated into new business models including the choice of the organisational type, planning method, the approach to the reconfiguration and development of a convincing value propositionJazdi (2014), Christensen et al. (2016), Sosna et al. (2010), Bohnsack and Pinkse (2017)
Competitive pressureCloud computing adoption in SMEsThe level of pressure made by competitors and felt by the organisation to adopt a new technologyPriyadarshinee et al. (2017)
Incentives for the I4.0 adoptionInnovation adoptionThe degree, to which the public sector or government provide an effective incentive scheme and share a portion of innovation financial risks through the provision of financial subsidies, low-interest and long-term loans and tax reduction to primarily provide an innovative and competitive avenue for I4.0 adoptersYigitcanlar et al. (2017)
The geographic location of an organisationDiffusion of knowledge in plant biotechnology; innovation performance of technology-intensive firmsThe level, to which the geographical clustering among I4.0 adopters positively influences tacit knowledge exchange through simplified interaction in the form of formal or informal contacts, further characterised by a frequency of interactions and creation of networks for the realisation of innovationGallaud and Torre (2005), Martinez-Noya and Garcia-Canal (2017)
Customer interactionA dynamic evolutionary model of demand in long-distance telecommunications servicesThe degree of advertising, marketing, sales, and customer support activities performed by an organisation to interact with its customersManral (2010)
Reputation of suppliersCloud computing adoption in SMEsThe extent of perceptual representation of an organisation's past actions and prospects that describe the organisation's overall appeal to all of its key stakeholders when compared with other leading rivalsPriyadarshinee et al. (2017)
Size of an organisationCloud computing adoption in SMEsThe extent, to which I4.0 adopters exhibit tolerance for bearing the cost and the risk of adopting innovations, given the adopter's resources, the volume of transactions, and the size of the workforcePriyadarshinee et al. (2017)
Information systems infrastructureIT adoption by organisationsThe degree of pervasiveness, power, and tight integration among elements of information infrastructure to transfer, store and retrieve, and process informationJeyaraj et al. (2006)
Technical support and expertiseAssimilation of innovations in hospitals; user IT acceptanceThe level of proficiency of an I4.0 adopter in the aspect of information technology installation, operation, maintenance, network administration, and securityMeyer and Goes (1988), Hameed (2012)
Type of industryIT adoption by organisationsAn industry's level of characterisation by the level of complexity of operations, which calls for the improvement of competitive advantage and the development of the Industry 4.0 competencyJeyaraj et al. (2006)
Post-adoptionAccess to I4.0 technologiesCloud computing adoption in SMEs; smart manufacturingThe degree of availability and acquisition of I4.0 technologies among I4.0 adopters, such as IoT, CPS, smart manufacturing, and cloud computingPriyadarshinee et al. (2017), Kang et al. (2016)
Adaptivity by plug-and-workImplementation of CPS and CPPS in manufacturing; different levels of applications (e.g., sensor level)The extent, to which technologies control relevant entities within the production system through convenient plugged in/connectivity to start operations without changing the control applications for the rest of the production systemMonostori et al. (2016)
AuditabilityCloud computing adoption in SMEsThe system's degree of efficiency in finding any unexpected information behaviour upon request of the customer to increase trustworthinessPriyadarshinee et al. (2017)
Culture of changeIT adoption by organisationsThe extent, to which the organisation responds to a perceived change in demands on the core tasks when aiming at developing a service businessJeyaraj et al. (2006)
Customer co-creationConceptual typology ad research agendaThe extent, to which I4.0 adopters perform a collaborative new product development activity, which makes consumers actively contribute and select various elements of a new product offeringSung (2018), O’Hern and Rindfleisch (2010)
Data lifecycleCPS implementation in factoriesThe extent, to which elements in the information system can complete the journey of data collection, transmission, storage, pre-processing, filtering, analysis, mining, visualisation, and applicationLee et al. (2015), Tao et al. (2018)
DecentralisationUse of patented intelligence in various fields (e.g., collaborative mass customisation of short lifecycle products)The extent, to which decision-making is dispersed in an organisation, giving employees greater autonomy and responsibility, and consequently increasing internal information flowTerziyan et al. (2018)
Degree of autonomyUse of CPS in a distributed control system for an urban vehicle trafficThe level of self-governing capability of a machine with embedded knowledge processing that allows independent decision-makingLetia and Kilyen (2018), Tweedale (2015)
Degree of integrationInnovation adoption; user IT acceptance; technology planning process in a private academic institutionThe extent of integrating technology into an organisation for effective and diffused use of technology and getting management to the established standardsHameed (2012), Chor et al. (2014), Gülbahar (2007)
DependabilityCreation of CPS; estimation of dependability metrics in virtual network environmentsThe degree of reliability and availability of information technology tools, which directly impact the quality of serviceAlguliyev et al. (2018), Lira et al. (2015)
Economies of scaleCloud computing adoption in SMEsThe level of cost advantage obtained by a firm when the cost per unit of output decreases as production quantity increasesPriyadarshinee et al. (2017)
Financial leverageImpact of innovation strategy in high-level-research companiesThe degree, to which an organisation generates profits from the implementation of innovation strategiesEzzi and Jarboui (2016)
Formalisation of systems developmentApplication of formalisationThe extent, to which an I4.0 adopter can create formally-defined, brand-named, or published development methodologies aimed at descriptions of the current work of users and the organisation, functional requirement specifications, technical design, functional design, code, technical conversion plan, and functional conversion plan, to name a fewMathiassen and Munk-Madsen (2007)
The functionality of service qualityUse of software functionality service in diverse type network technologies (e.g., 3G)The degree of fitness for a piece of software or how it compares to competitors in the marketplace as a worthwhile productSalleh et al. (2017)
Human in/outside the loopSmart process control in an experimental office buildingThe degree of information technologies to integrate humans in the process control loop, that is, interacting with a distant system to accomplish a given taskAduda et al. (2014)
Information intensityEffect on various industries’ competitive advantageThe level of intellectual work done by I4.0 adopters as they conduct their affairsSabherwal and King (1991)
Intelligent lotsBatch scheduling problemThe extent, to which technologies deal with batch scheduling problemsLi et al. (2012)
InteroperabilityCloud computing adoption in SMEsThe degree of using computational tools to facilitate the flow of work and coordination between organisationsPriyadarshinee et al. (2017)
Knowledge transformationInnovation adoptionThe number of new product ideas or projects initiated by an organisationChor et al. (2014)
Machine flexibilityClassification of flexible manufacturing system typesA machine's degree of ease in making the changes required to produce a given set of part typesBrowne et al. (1984)
MaintainabilityThe degree of efficiency, to which an item will be retained in or restored to a specified condition within a given period when prescribed procedures and resources perform maintenanceBlanchard et al. (1995)
Manager risk toleranceFirms at a particular stock price and firm size dataThe degree of I4.0 adopters’ risk aversion and risk perception, which plays an essential role in the decision-making by managersFrijns et al. (2013)
MultilingualismIT adoption by organisationsThe degree of I4.0 technologies to support multiple languages for effective delivery of information and knowledge in CPSJeyaraj et al. (2006)
Operational riskThe degree of loss risk from inadequate or failed internal processes, people, and systems, or external eventsHoffman (2002)
Organisational efficiencyThe stochastic frontier analysis employed by nationsThe level, to which I4.0 adopters adopt and adapt the existing technology from world technology leaders and successfully apply it domesticallyDanquah (2018)
Organisational performanceEmpirical data analysis on the role of organisational culture to the improvement of organisational performanceThe extent, to which an organisation achieves set objectives of retaining profits, having a competitive edge, increasing market share, and maintaining long-term survival, which depends on the use of applicable organisational strategies and action plansOyemomi et al. (2019)
PartnershipsCloud computing adoption in SMEsThe degree, to which I4.0 adopter and suppliers work together to improve their servicePriyadarshinee et al. (2017)
Performing trial for the organisation of innovationAnalysis of innovation research in economics, organisational sociology, and technology managementThe degree, to which an innovation may be experimented with on a limited basisGopalakrishnan and Damanpour (1997)
Real-time capabilityUse of patented intelligence in various fields (e.g., collaborative mass customisation of short lifecycle products)The level of a system's ability to update information at the same rate as the event happensTerziyan et al. (2018)
Reduced operational costRoad-mapping process of a manufacturer of medical equipment and consumablesThe extent, to which a resultant cost improvement is achieved when innovation is implementedIssar and Navon (2016)
Remote monitoring and control capabilityConceptual typology ad research agendaThe degree of a system's capability to control large or complex facilities, such as factories, power plants, network operation centres, airports, and spacecraft with some degree of automationSung (2018)
Research & development intensityInnovation adoptionThe number of organisation-financed business-unit research projects and development expenditures, which are expressed as a percentage of business unit sales and transfers over a fixed periodChor et al. (2014)
ResiliencyLarge scale surveys conducted among IT professionals and academicsThe extent, to which data centres can withstand any cyber-attacks, floods, fire, theft, server and network failures and natural disasters without losing the ability to provide services or, more importantly, their dataChang et al. (2016)
Supply chain integrationUser IT acceptanceThe degree, to which an organisation strategically collaborates with its supply chain partners and manages intra and inter-organisation processes to achieve effective and efficient flows of products, services, information, money, and decisions, to provide the maximum value to its customersHameed (2012)
System robustnessCreation of CPSThe extent of the ability of the system to cope with errors during the execution and cope with erroneous inputsAlguliyev et al. (2018)
UsabilityCloud computing adoption in SMEsThe degree, to which a specific user can use technology for specific organisations with the intent of reaching precise objectives with efficiency, effectiveness, and satisfaction in a determined contextPriyadarshinee et al. (2017), Letia and Kilyen (2018)
Work simplificationIT adoption by organisationsThe degree, to which information technology replaces the mental component of work particularly in manufacturing applicationsJeyaraj et al. (2006)

Sample post-adoption stage questionnaire for company B

Company B
No.IndicatorVery Poor (VP)Poor (P)Fair (F)Good (G)Very Good (VG)
1.Access to I4.0 technologies
2.Adaptivity by plug-and-work
3.Auditability
4.Culture of change
5.Customer co-creation
6.Data lifecycle
7.Decentralisation
8.Degree of autonomy
9.Degree of integration
10.Dependability
11.Economies of scale
12.Financial leverage
13.Formalisation of systems development
14.The functionality of service quality
15.Human in/outside the loop
16.Information intensity
17.Intelligent lots
18.Interoperability
19.Knowledge transformation
20.Machine flexibility
21.Maintainability
22.Manager risk tolerance
23.Multilingualism
24.Operational risk
25.Organisational efficiency
26.Organisational performance
27.Partnerships
28.Performing trial for the organisation of innovation
29.Real-time capability
30.Reduced operational cost
31.Remote monitoring and control capability
32.Research & development intensity
33.Resiliency
34.Supply chain integration
35.System robustness
36.Usability
37.Work simplification

Numbers of indicators generated from literature with their corresponding application

Author(s)ApplicationNo. of generated indicators
Chor et al. (2014)Contextual level-based innovation adoption116
Danquah (2018)Technology adoption and utilisation1
Ezzi and Jarboui (2016), Yigitcanlar et al. (2017)Financial, social, and environmental effects of innovation strategy2
Lu (2017)Reference indicators: Jazdi (2014), Stock and Seliger (2016), Wang et al. (2016), Gorecky et al. (2014), Hermann et al. (2016), Kolberg and Zühlke (2015)Industry 4.0 technologies7
Lee et al. (2015)Industry 4.0 technologies (CPS)1
Tao et al. (2018)Industry 4.0 technologies (smart manufacturing)1
Hameed et al. (2012)Reference indicators: Gopalakrishnan and Damanpour (1997), Rogers (1995), Meyer and Goes (1988)IT innovation adoption124
Jeyaraj et al. (2006), Pilke (2004)Individual and organisational-based IT innovation adoption94
Alguliyev et al. (2018)Industry 4.0 technologies (CPS)14
Attaran (2017)Industry 4.0 technologies (additive manufacturing)5
Hassan (2017)Industry 4.0 technologies (cloud computing adoption)3
Hsu and Lin (2016)Industry 4.0 technologies (adoption of the Internet of Things)6
Letia and Kilyen (2018)Industry 4.0 technologies (CPS)9
Lopez and Rubio (2018)Industry 4.0 technologies (integration of CPS and cloud computing)2
Molina and Jacob (2017)Industry 4.0 technologies (CPS)1
Monostori et al. (2016)Industry 4.0 technologies (CPS)4
Priyadarshinee et al. (2017)Industry 4.0 technologies (cloud computing adoption)50
Salleh et al. (2017)Software functionality service1
Sharma et al. (2016)Industry 4.0 technologies (cloud computing adoption)6
Sung (2018)Industry 4.0 levers17
Terziyan et al. (2018)Industry 4.0 technologies (artificial intelligence)5
TOTAL469

Sample pre-adoption stage questionnaire for company A

Company A
No.IndicatorVery Poor (VP)Poor (P)Fair (F)Good (G)Very Good (VG)
1.Compatibility
2.Perceived ease of use
3.Perceived usefulness
4.Flow experience
5.Internal information sources
6.External information sources
7.Observability
8.Perceived risk
9.Perception of the term Industry 4.0
10.Subjective importance of tasks
11.Technological innovativeness