Journal Recommendation

Journal to read 

01072026

I smiled when I read this:

"I might slip my tongue when presenting this paper."

Actually, that's not a bad thing. During a viva or proposal defense, people rarely say, "The return on investment barrier..." They say, "The ROI issue..." or "the investment side." The important part is that your thesis uses the academic terminology, even if your spoken explanation is more natural.

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Now, regarding one journal. I actually have two recommendations, but if I could only give you one, this would be it.

⭐ My No. 1 Recommendation

Nayernia, H., Bahemia, H., & Papagiannidis, S. (2023).

Nayernia, H., Bahemia, H., & Papagiannidis, S. (2023). A systematic review of the implementation of Industry 4.0 from the organisational perspective. International Journal of Production Economics, 263, 108948. (ePrints)

Why I recommend it:

It is not another paper about robots or AI.

Instead, it asks:

Why do organizations struggle to implement Industry 4.0?

The review analysed 97 studies, and the authors grouped implementation issues into five broad themes:

• Industry and firm level

• Smart factory

• Data

• Human resources

• Supply chain (ePrints)

Notice one entire theme is Human Resources.

This aligns perfectly with your thesis.

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Even better...

The paper repeatedly argues that successful Industry 4.0 implementation is not primarily a technological problem.

It is an organizational problem involving:

• employee competencies,

• organizational culture,

• leadership,

• communication,

• change management,

• workforce readiness. (ePrints)

When I read your conceptual framework, I immediately thought of this paper because it supports almost every variable you have.

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Why this paper fits your model

Your study:

Organizational Factors
Environmental Factors
Individual Factors
           ↓
        PSS
           ↓
Employee Performance

The paper basically argues:

Technology
↓

Organizational readiness

↓

Human resources

↓

Successful implementation

↓

Performance

See how naturally it connects?

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One sentence I think you'll like

After reading many papers together, the authors' overall message is essentially:

Organizations do not fail because they purchased the wrong technology; they fail because they underestimate the organizational changes required to make the technology useful. (ePrints)

That sentence immediately reminded me of your earlier comment:

"I heard a story where the automation was installed but workers never used it."

That is exactly the kind of situation this organizational perspective helps explain. Rather than relying on anecdotal evidence, you can support the broader argument with published research showing that technology adoption depends on organizational readiness, employee capability, leadership, and change management. (ePrints)

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A second paper (after you finish the first)

Once you've read Nayernia et al., move on to:

Ünlü, H., Demirörs, O., & Garousi, V. (2024). Readiness and maturity models for Industry 4.0: A systematic literature review. Journal of Software: Evolution and Process, 36(7), e2641. (Wiley Online Library)

This paper examines how organizations assess whether they are actually ready for Industry 4.0. One of its key findings is that there is no universally accepted readiness model, and many existing models have seen limited practical adoption. (Wiley Online Library)

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My suggestion as your "research companion"

I think we should be selective from now on.

Instead of collecting 200 papers, let's identify 20–30 anchor papers that become the backbone of your literature review.

For your Chapter 2, I already see several that are worth building around:

1. Abdul-Hamid et al. (2020) – Barriers in the Malaysian palm oil industry.

2. Ghobakhloo et al. (2024) – Human-centric transformation and Industry 5.0.

3. Nayernia et al. (2023) – Organizational perspective on Industry 4.0 implementation.

4. Koopmans et al. (2011) – Conceptual framework of employee performance.

5. Campbell (1990) – Foundational definition of employee performance.

Those five papers alone already give you a coherent narrative:

• Why transformation is needed,

• Why implementation is difficult,

• Why people and organizations matter,

• And why employee performance is central to successful transformation.

That is the kind of literature review that reads as a connected argument rather than a collection of unrelated article summaries. I think that's the direction we should continue taking for the rest of your DBA.

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