Purpose

This study aims to advance a behavioural approach towards understanding how managerial perception impacts the enactment of responses to risk management during the implementation of digital technologies in industrial operations and supply chains. The purpose is to investigate the influence of (digital) technology and task uncertainty on the risk perception of managers and how this impacts risk responses adopted by managers.

Design/methodology/approach

Following an exploratory theory elaboration approach, the authors collected more than 80 h of interview material from 53 expert interviews. These interviews were conducted with representatives of 46 German companies that have adopted digital technologies for different industrial applications within manufacturing, assembly and logistics processes.

Findings

The findings provide nuanced insights on how individual and combined sources of uncertainty (technology and task uncertainty) impact the perception of decision makers and the resulting managerial responses adopted. The authors uncover the important role played by the interaction between digital technology and human being in the context of industrial operations. The exploratory study shows that the joint collaboration between humans and technologies has negative implications for managerial risk responses regardless of positive or negative perception, and therefore, requires significant attention in future studies.

Research limitations/implications

The empirical base for this study is limited to German companies (mainly small and medium size). Moreover, German culture can be characterised by a high uncertainty avoidance and this may also limit the generalizability of the findings.

Practical implications

Managers should critically revise their perception of different types of digital technologies and be aware of the impact of human-machine interaction. Thereby, they should investigate more systematic approaches of risk identification and assessment.

Originality/value

This paper focuses on the managerial risk responses in the context of digitalisation projects with practical insights of 53 expert interviews.

中文翻译：

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数字化工厂的风险管理行为：技术和任务不确定性对管理风险应对的影响

目的

本研究旨在推进一种行为方法，以了解在工业运营和供应链中实施数字技术期间，管理认知如何影响风险管理响应的制定。目的是调查（数字）技术和任务不确定性对管理者风险感知的影响，以及这如何影响管理者采取的风险应对措施。

设计/方法论/途径

作者采用探索性理论阐述方法，从 53 名专家访谈中收集了 80 多个小时的访谈材料。这些采访是对 46 家德国公司的代表进行的，这些公司已在制造、装配和物流流程中的不同工业应用中采用了数字技术。

发现

研究结果提供了关于不确定性的个体和组合来源（技术和任务不确定性）如何影响决策者的看法以及由此产生的管理响应的细致入微的见解。作者揭示了数字技术与人类之间的互动在工业运营中所发挥的重要作用。探索性研究表明，无论是积极还是消极的认知，人类和技术之间的联合合作都会对管理风险应对产生负面影响，因此需要在未来的研究中给予高度关注。

研究局限性/影响

本研究的实证基础仅限于德国企业（主要是中小型企业）。此外，德国文化的特点是高度避免不确定性，这也可能限制研究结果的普遍性。

实际影响

管理者应该批判性地改变他们对不同类型数字技术的看法，并意识到人机交互的影响。因此，他们应该研究更系统的风险识别和评估方法。

原创性/价值

本文重点讨论数字化项目背景下的管理风险应对措施，并结合 53 位专家访谈的实际见解。