The Necessity, Advantages and Disadvantages Of Industry 4.0: A Study Of Turkish Graduate Students’ Perceptions

Fourth industrial revolution, known as Industry 4.0 arose in manufacturing industry and it mainly based on automation and data exchange. It is called as a revolution since it seems like a big innovation and therefore the articles in this area are relevant to its innovation dimension. Based upon the literature it can be said its impact on the society and on the workforce has been ignored. To fill the gap in the literature, this study aims to analyse the necessity, advantages and disadvantages of Industry 4.0 based on the perceptions of graduate students who constitute the existing or future workforce of the society. To accomplish this aim, first the literature about the necessity, advantages, and disadvantages of Industry 4.0 was reviewed. Then an online survey was conducted with 202 graduate students and a correlation analysis was run to identify the existence of relationship between students' knowledge level in Industry 4.0 and beliefs towards necessity of Industry 4.0. Results of the study indicate that sampled students believe that Industry 4.0 is highly necessary. Another interesting result of this study is that the knowledge level in Industry 4.0 of students does not differ according to the institute where they study, but their belief towards necessity of Industry 4.0 differs. Finally, “increased productivity” represents the most important advantage of Industry 4.0 whereas “high initial investment costs” stands out as the most important disadvantage of Industry 4.0. Although there have been studies regarding to existing and potential technological and economical aspects on society and individuals, there is a lack of understanding of the social impact of it. To fill this gap, this study attempts to focus on the technological, economical, and social impacts of Industry 4.0 on society and individuals with a holistic approach by questioning the perceptions of university students and examining the advantages and disadvantages of Industry 4.0 as well.