Attitudes and performance of workers preparing for the fourth industrial revolution

Abstract

Recently, the most frequently studied topics related to the fourth industrial revolution (FIR) are Big data, AI, Cloud Computing and Internet of Things-these four components are collectively known as the main components of the FIR (henceforth MCs). The MCs have a wide range of effects on workers’ performance. As such it is imperative that these components are properly understood. This understanding will lead to a proper recognition of the attitudes that workers need to adopt to the MCs. Specifically, the attitudes of workers to several variables need to be examined, including importance, intention to use, belief in improvement, efficacy to use, and negative cognition. Each of these variables plays a role in determining how worker’s performance in the FIR era will change. The performance-related variables such as self-efficacy, expectations, and acceptance of change are also crucial. These variables are related to creation of new opportunities, and can greatly influence performance in the FIR era. This study explains how specific attitudes to MCs improve performance-related factors for FIR. The adoption of these attitudes will ultimately lead to more successful adaption to the FIR era.