Industry 4.0 in the Context of the Triple Bottom Line of Sustainability

Abstract

Industry 4.0 and sustainability are trending topics in the industry and scientific research. However, there is currently no comparable study, which summarizes the impacts of Industry 4.0 on all three dimensions of the Triple Bottom Line at the same time. This chapter aims to present a comprehensive overview of Industry 4.0 in the context of the Triple Bottom Line of sustainability. For this reason, a systematic literature review is conducted to find out the current state of literature about this topic. The chapter presents a systematic literature review on 64 peer-reviewed journal articles, which have been published between 2014 and 2019. An in-depth analysis of the content as well as an analysis of the empirical methodologies are conducted. To structure the existing knowledge, a framework is developed, and the findings are categorized into ecological and social aspects. On this basis the content is evaluated to discuss key findings and relating interdependencies.