Industry 5.0, Human-Centric Innovation, and Green Operational Efficiency: Evidence from Smart Sustainable Workflows

Abstract

This study analyses the effect of eco-based automation and human-centred innovation associated with Industry 5.0 on the green operational efficiency with attention to the mediating factor of smart sustainable workflow integration. A transition of Industry 5.0, based on a paradigm that opposes the technology-oriented paradigm of Industry 4.0, practiced by incorporating human creativity, ethics, and high-level automation, is part of bringing a more sustainable and efficient industrial production. Eco-motivated automation is supposed to decrease the energy use, waste and better utilization of resources and human-oriented innovation reclaims human agency in the production process, as the workers able to cooperate with the machines to achieve a greater sustainability. The research design is quantitative research, which involves the use of surveys and secondary data of the industries that have already implemented Industry 5.0 technologies. The hypothesis that eco-motivated automation and human-centric innovation has a positive influence on green operational efficiency is supported with the help of regression analysis, and the Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) proves that smart sustainable workflow integration mediates this correlation. The results indicate that industries that use these technologies have the potential to enhance performance with regard to environmental performance as well as productivity. This study builds on the knowledge of the potential of adopting Industry 5.0 practices to turn the conventional manufacturing to green and sustainable operations and presents some practical information to industries intending to maximize green efficiencies. The study also identifies future research opportunities, including investigating the long-term effects of the adoption of Industry 5.0 and experimenting with other mediating variables that may make industrial processes even more sustainable.