A MODEL-BASED APPROACH TO DEVELOPING THE INDUSTRY 4.0 AWARENESS SCALE

Abstract

In a rapidly developing and increasingly digitalizing world, small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) are the most important building blocks of the country's economies and large-scale enterprises. In this study, a scale that aims to measure the awareness of especially SMEs and large-scale enterprises approach to Industry 4.0 has developed. For the validity and reliability of the study, 90 enterprises were involved in the research and a questionnaire applied to 611 people in these enterprises. In the study, within the scope of validity and reliability studies, expert's opinion was asked and Reliability Analysis, Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA), Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA). item-total correlations and independent-samples t-test analyses were done. As a result of the Exploratory Factor Analysis made on the data obtained, a five-factor awareness scale consisting of 30 items was formed. This model formed has been verified by confirmatory factor analysis. The Cronbach's Alpha internal consistency coefficient of the scale was calculated as 0.889. As a result of the validity and reliability analysis done, it was determined that the Industry 4.0 Awareness Scale is a valid and reliable scale for all enterprises and employees. By the scale's applying to different types and sizes of businesses in varied sectors, with unequal samples. awareness will create before the country. As applications increase, it will be possible to develop the scale in different ways.