Technology Strategy Towards Sustainable Manufacturing Performance: An Empirical Study of the Mediating Role of Leadership Style in Malaysian Manufacturing Firms

This study empirically examines the relationship between technology strategy, leadership style, and sustainable manufacturing performance (SMP) among Malaysian manufacturing firms. Grounded in the Resource-Based View (RBV), the study investigates how technological resources, including pioneer–follower posture, technological investments, intensity of product upgrades, product and process technologies, manufacturing system and process design technologies, manufacturing process technology innovations, digital manufacturing technologies, and microfactories, contribute to economic, environmental, and social sustainability outcomes, with leadership style positioned as a mediating mechanism. A quantitative research approach was adopted, and data were collected from 216 manufacturing firms using a structured questionnaire. The data were analysed using SPSS Version 29 through descriptive analysis, reliability analysis, multiple regression analysis, and Hayes PROCESS Macro Model 4 for mediation testing. The findings indicate that technological investments, manufacturing system and process design technologies, manufacturing process technology innovations, digital manufacturing technologies, and microfactories have significant positive effects on sustainable manufacturing performance. However, pioneer–follower posture, intensity of product upgrades, and product and process technology do not demonstrate significant direct effects. Leadership style significantly mediates the relationship between all technology strategy dimensions and sustainable manufacturing performance, highlighting its critical role in transforming technological capabilities into sustainability outcomes. This study contributes to existing literature by developing an integrated technology strategy framework that combines multiple technological dimensions with leadership capability, extending the RBV perspective by demonstrating that technological resources generate greater sustainability value when supported by effective leadership integration. The findings highlight that sustainable manufacturing performance depends not only on technology adoption but also on organisational capabilities that enable successful Industry 4.0 transformation.

Sustainable manufacturing, technology strategy, leadership style, Industry 4.0, RBV

1. Wernerfelt, B. (1984). A resource-based view of the firm. Strategic Management Journal, 5(2), 171–180. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

2. Barney, J. (1991). Firm resources and sustained competitive advantage. Journal of Management, 17(1), 99–120. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

3. Tornatzky, L. G., & Fleischer, M. (1990). The processes of technological innovation. Lexington Books. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

4. Luthra, S., Kumar, V., Kumar, S., & Haleem, A. (2016). Barriers to implement green manufacturing: An interpretive structural modelling approach. Journal of Cleaner Production, 137, 61–74. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

5. Vial, G. (2019). Understanding digital transformation: A review and a research agenda. The Journal of Strategic Information Systems, 28(2), 118–144. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

6. Jagadisen, M. S., Salamzadeh, Y., Farzad, F. S., Salamzadeh, A., & Palalić, R. (2022). Digital leadership and organisational capabilities in manufacturing industry: A study in Malaysian context. Periodicals of Engineering and Natural Sciences, 10(1), 195–211. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

7. Bass, B. M., & Avolio, B. J. (1994). Improving organizational effectiveness through transformational leadership. Sage Publications. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

8. Northouse, P. G. (2021). Leadership: Theory and practice (9th ed.). Sage Publications. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

9. Elkington, J. (1997). Cannibals with forks: The triple bottom line of 21st century business. Capstone Publishing. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

10. Porter, M. E., & Kramer, M. R. (2011). Creating shared value. Harvard Business Review, 89(1/2), 62–77. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

11. Müller, J. M., Kiel, D., & Voigt, K. I. (2018). What drives the implementation of Industry 4.0? Business Strategy and the Environment, 27(5), 621–632. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

12. Frank, A. G., Dalenogare, L. S., & Ayala, N. F. (2019). Industry 4.0 technologies: Implementation patterns in manufacturing companies. International Journal of Production Economics, 210, 15–26. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

13. Wang, S., Wan, J., Li, D., & Zhang, C. (2016). Implementing smart factory of Industry 4.0: An outlook. International Journal of Distributed Sensor Networks, 12(1). [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

14. Lu, Y. (2017). Industry 4.0: A survey on technologies, applications and open research issues. Journal of Industrial Information Integration, 6, 1–10. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

15. Kusiak, A. (2018). Smart manufacturing. International Journal of Production Research, 56(1–2), 508–517. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

16. Buer, S. V., Strandhagen, J. O., & Chan, F. T. S. (2018). The link between Industry 4.0 and lean manufacturing: Mapping current research and establishing a research agenda. International Journal of Production Research. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

17. Kiel, D., Müller, J. M., Arnold, C., & Voigt, K. I. (2017). Sustainable industrial value creation: Benefits and challenges of Industry 4.0. International Journal of Innovation Management. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

18. Lieberman, M. B., & Montgomery, D. B. (1998). First-mover (dis)advantages: Retrospective and link with the resource-based view. Strategic Management Journal, 19(12), 1111–1125. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

19. Zahra, S. A., & Covin, J. G. (1993). Business strategy, technology policy and firm performance. Strategic Management Journal, 14(6), 451–478. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

20. Hitt, L. M., Wu, D. J., & Zhou, X. (1997). Investment in enterprise resource planning: Business impact and productivity measures. Journal of Management Information Systems. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

21. Gunasekaran, A., Subramanian, N., & Rahman, S. (2015). Green supply chain management: A review and research directions. International Journal of Production Economics. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

22. Teece, D. J., Pisano, G., & Shuen, A. (1997). Dynamic capabilities and strategic management. Strategic Management Journal, 18(7), 509–533. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

23. Calantone, R., Schmidt, J., & Song, M. (1996). Controllable factors of new product success: A cross-national comparison. Journal of Product Innovation Management. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

24. Ahsan, M., Nasir, S., & Abbas, Q. (2023). Product innovation and sustainability outcomes. Sustainable Production and Consumption. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

25. Hayes, R. H., & Wheelwright, S. C. (1984). Restoring our competitive edge: Competing through manufacturing. Wiley. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

26. Duflou, J. R., Sutherland, J. W., Dornfeld, D., Herrmann, C., Jeswiet, J., Kara, S., Hauschild, M., & Kellens, K. (2012). Towards energy and resource efficient manufacturing: A processes and systems approach. CIRP Annals, 61(2), 587–609. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

27. Ford, S., & Despeisse, M. (2016). Additive manufacturing and sustainability: An exploratory study of the advantages and challenges. Journal of Cleaner Production, 137, 1573–1587. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

28. Moktadir, M. A., Ali, S. M., & Rahman, T. (2020). Green manufacturing adoption. Journal of Cleaner Production. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

29. Dangelico, R. M., & Pujari, D. (2010). Mainstreaming green product innovation: Why and how companies integrate environmental sustainability. Business Strategy and the Environment, 19(5), 471–486. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

30. Chowdhury, M. M. H., Paul, S. K., & Kaisar, S. (2023). Environmental sustainability in manufacturing. Resources, Conservation & Recycling. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

31. Carter, C. R., & Rogers, D. S. (2008). A framework of sustainable supply chain management: Moving toward new theory. International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management, 38(5), 360–387. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

32. Govindan, K., Diabat, A., & Shankar, K. M. (2015). Analyzing the drivers of green manufacturing with fuzzy approach. Journal of Cleaner Production. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

33. Bag, S., & Pretorius, J. H. C. (2022). Leadership and sustainability integration in manufacturing. Business Strategy and the Environment. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

34. Tortorella, G. L., Giglio, R., & Sawhney, R. (2023). Industry 4.0 and operations performance. International Journal of Production Research. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

35. Mourtzis, D. (2022). Digital manufacturing systems and Industry 4.0. Robotics and Computer-Integrated Manufacturing. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

36. Olan, F., Liu, S., & Sukumar, A. (2022). Digital transformation in industry: Digital twins and new business models. Springer. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

37. Hermann, M., Pentek, T., & Otto, B. (2019). Design principles for Industrie 4.0 scenarios. Proceedings of the 49th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

38. Javaid, M., Haleem, A., Singh, R. P., & Suman, R. (2022). Microfactories and sustainable manufacturing transformation. Journal of Cleaner Production. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

39. Hair, J. F., Black, W. C., Babin, B. J., & Anderson, R. E. (2019). Multivariate data analysis (8th ed.). Cengage Learning. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

40. Joshi, A., Kale, S., Chandel, S., & Pal, D. K. (2015). Likert scale: Explored and explained. British Journal of Applied Science & Technology, 7(4), 396–403. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

41. Hayes, A. F. (2018). Introduction to mediation, moderation, and conditional process analysis: A regression-based approach (2nd ed.). Guilford Press. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

• The Indirect Effect of Liquidity and Activity on Company Value with Profitability as an Intervening Variable
• Effect of Financial Skills, Knowledge, and Attitude on The Financial Behaviour of Clergy
• A Decade of Review: Trends in Budget Execution and Financial Performance of Development Projects in Tanzania (2014/15-2023/24)
• The Influence of Pre-Project Planning on the Budget Absorption Rate of Public Funded Infrastructure Projects in Kenya a Comparative Case Study of Narok, Migori, and Kisii County Government Projects
• Assessment of Factors Influencing Digital Transformation in Hotels’ Facility Management in Abuja Metropolis, Nigeria