Work

Negative Impacts on Sustainability of Industry 4.0 Disruptive Technologies and Actions to Mitigate them: a Systematic Literature Review

Year: 2026

Type: review

Abstract: Disruptive information technologies impact all disciplines, economies, and industries, allowing among others, the development of smart factories, smart buildings, smart cities, smart products, or smart public and private services. However, despite its countless profits, the disruptive technologies of the fourth Industrial Revolution are causing a series of negative impacts on sustainable development. This paper aims to identify the negative economic, social and environmental impacts of the fourth Industrial Revolution technologies as well as to propose actions to mitigate it. To this end, a Systematic Literature Review was conducted. As a result, 99 negative economic, social and environmental impacts of the disruptive technologies of the fourth Industrial Revolution and 93 proposals of actions to mitigate it have been identified. These findings are profitable for academics and engineers, because this study identifies the scientific and technological innovations that are necessary to carry out; for managers, because they can understand the negative impacts that these technologies could suppose for their company’ sustainability and the actions that they can perform to avoid it; and for policy makers, to whom this study rises a set of challenges and the need to perform regulatory improvements.

Source: Journal of the Knowledge Economy

DOI: 10.1007/s13132-026-03167-4

Authors: Iris de Orte, Ricardo Chalmeta, Jailson dos Santos Silva

Institutions: Universitat Jaume I, Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina

Language: English

Topic: Digital Transformation in Industry

Subfield: Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

Field: Engineering

Domain: Physical Sciences

SDGs: Industry, innovation and infrastructure, Responsible consumption and production

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $3,390