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JCR Category: Business in ESCI edition

Entrepreneurship and Sustainability Issues Open access
Journal Impact FactorTM (2025) 1.5 Q3
Journal Citation IndicatorTM (2025) 0.25 Q4
Received: 2026-05-12  |  Accepted: 2026-08-09  |  Published: 2026-09-30

Title

Integrating industry 4.0 technologies into human capital management: a conceptual framework


Abstract

Industry 4.0, together with its elements, represents a new challenge for companies in human capital management (HCM). The article aims to provide an overview and comparison of the research published so far regarding the intersection of the Industry 4.0 elements with HCM and to point out their impact. It provides a conceptual basis for other authors and researchers and is a source of ideas for future research. The study applies a narrative literature review and conceptual synthesis approach to identify Industry 4.0 technologies applicable to HCM and to develop a conceptual framework linking these technologies with HCM phases. The findings identify cloud computing, social media, chatbots, virtual and augmented reality, blockchain, Big Data, artificial intelligence, and business intelligence as the most relevant Industry 4.0 technologies applicable to HCM. If these elements are implemented correctly, labour productivity, process efficiency, performance, and competitiveness of the enterprise on the market can be increased. The benefit of the theoretical overview is also the suggestion of areas of managerial implications that could help in the effective integration of Industry 4.0 technologies into human capital management processes.


Keywords

human capital management, education, Industry 4.0, Industry 4.0 elements digitalization


JEL classifications

M12 , M14 , M15 , M53


URI

http://jssidoi.org/jesi/article/6686


DOI


Pages

340-353


Funding

This research was funded by grant No. VEGA 1/0112/25 “SHARECOM: Exploring the potential use and effects of the sharing economy in business” of the Scientific Grant Agency of the Ministry of Education of the Slovak Republic.

This is an open access issue and all published articles are licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

Authors

Štaffenová, Nikola
University of Žilina, Žilina, Slovakia https://www.uniza.sk
Articles by this author in: CrossRef |  Google Scholar

Kucharčíková, Alžbeta
University of Žilina, Žilina, Slovakia https://www.uniza.sk
Articles by this author in: CrossRef |  Google Scholar

Tokarčíková, Emese
University of Žilina, Žilina, Slovakia https://www.uniza.sk
Articles by this author in: CrossRef |  Google Scholar

Journal title

Entrepreneurship and Sustainability Issues

Volume

14


Number

1


Issue date

September 2026


Issue DOI


ISSN

ISSN 2345-0282 (online)


Publisher

VšĮ Entrepreneurship and Sustainability Center, Vilnius, Lithuania

Cited

Google Scholar

Article views & downloads

HTML views: 241  |  PDF downloads: 174

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Funding: This research was funded by grant No. VEGA 1/0112/25 “SHARECOM: Exploring the potential use and effects of the sharing economy in business” of the Scientific Grant Agency of the Ministry of Education of the Slovak Republic. /jesi/article/6686

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