Elements of TVET Leadership in the Industry 4.0 Era: A Short Review

Abstract

Industry 4.0 (I4.0) is defined as a transformation of communication and automation, predominantly within the context of manufacturing. The I4.0 concept is adopted as the foundation of smart manufacturing, in which communication between humans and machines is analogous to the way humans engage via social media. Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) is a very important part of I4.0, especially when it comes to getting skilled people into the manufacturing sector. Due to the increasing demand for TVET programs, numerous research has been undertaken on TVET institution leadership styles. However, research on leadership styles that fit the requirements of I4.0 is relatively rare. As such, the purpose of this paper is to prompt a brief assessment of the available research on the leadership style of TVET institutions within the context of I4.0. This short review applied a systematic literature review (SLR) method to comprehensively synthesis research, identifying 1,110 papers in the first stage and further narrowed to six research articles in the final stage. To meet the I4.0 requirement, SLR indicated a dearth of research on TVET leadership style and a prevalence of the general leadership style construct. Two leadership style clusters are identified, comprising TVET and I4.0 leadership elements. For TVET leadership in the era of I4.0, the overlapping of both styles' primary constructs is regarded as crucial. Even though this is a preliminary study, future research should focus on leadership in TVET institutions considering I4.0 requirements.