Examining the Viability of Lean Production Practices in the Industry 4.0 era: An Empirical Evidence Based on B2B Garment Manufacturing Sector

Purpose: The purpose of this research is to investigate the influence of the interrelationship between the deployment of Industry 4.0 (I4.0) technologies and the application of Lean Production (LP) practices on the degree of organizational Sustainability Performance (SP) enhancement of the Bangladeshi Ready-made Garment (RMG) sector. Design/methodology/approach: Previously, researchers have utilized the Resource-based View (RBV) or Dynamic Capability View (DCV) to describe the interaction of resources and capacities (technologies, management practices, sustainability performance) to analyze their effectiveness. However, in light of several contemporary academic discussions, we contend that these organizational views are inappropriate for explicating sustainability performance. Hence, as the foundation of our theoretical framework, we used the Practice-based View (PBV), which is recommended as a useful window to evaluate the function of practices that are common and simple to emulate in execution. In order to test the theoretical framework and research hypothesis, we utilized Partial Least Square (PLS) analysis. For that, we carried out a systematic survey to collect data from 80 Bangladeshi RMG factories. Findings: The results of this research imply that LP is a crucial factor in enhancing organizational SP. Moreover, the results also indicate that the adoption of I4.0 technologies along with LP can assist in delivering the lean objectives more efficiently and, therefore, the combined application of LP practices and I4.0 technologies play a significant role in enhancing organizational SP. Originality: Though the present literature indicates the probable significant association between LP and SP or I4.0 technologies and SP, no study, within our knowledge, has empirically examined the combined impacts of correlation between LP and I4.0 on SP. This is also a unique study to apply the PBV theory to explain the organizational SP through the combination of common resources and technologies.