Exploring IT investment decisions of SME in the Fourth Industrial Revolution

Organizational processes, production, business strategy, value creation and value delivery are undergoing significant change as result of emerging new technologies in industry 4.0 context. This has drawn attention across many countries and not only organizations, but also stakeholders and policy makers as the fourth industrial revolution. While Industry 4.0 has been widely investigated in large enterprises, yet to date, little is known about how SMEs with limited financial resources make strategic decisions in particular about IT investment on diverse emerging technologies. To close this gap, this paper focused on the propensity of SMEs in IT investment in an industry 4.0 context. We analyze the responses of 1889 Italian SMEs to Government policies designed to facilitate SMEs in adopting technologies for Industry 4.0. This study aims to contribute to alignment literature by highlighting the importance of IT investment as strategic decision in Industry 4.0. Moreover, the paper offers a set of practical implications.