The impact of IoT on manufacturing firm performance: the moderating role of firm-level IoT commitment and expertise

Abstract

The Internet of Things has received enormous attention. Despite the lucrative potential, this study tries to look beyond the hype to understand how IoT impacts firm performance. Based on the information processing theory, we intend to explore how IoT influences the financial performance of firms. Firms, which realise the urgent need to adopt IoT might encounter a diverse set of challenges, like whether adoption will be profitable, the level of commitment they should devote, and whether to adopt as a first or second-mover. We want to comprehend such adoption challenges on the Indian manufacturing firm's financial performance. This study uses panel data from BSE 500 listed manufacturing firms and conducts multivariate analysis to understand the relationship between the IoT implementation proxies: IoT adoption, first-mover advantage, and firm performance in the light of IoT commitment and experts. The result indicates that IoT implementation has an insignificant effect on manufacturing firm performance. Meanwhile, the consideration of IoT commitment and experts jointly can enable a manufacturing firm to reap significantly positive financial outcomes. In other words, the IoT commitment and expertise positively moderate the relationship. The finding is useful to the decision-makers to address the firm-level adjustment before the mere introduction of IoT.