Staying relevant for industry 4.0: Examining the effects of adaptability, digital fluency, global perspective, learning agility, and self-management on job performance in Oman's public sector
Aug 2026· Human Resources Management and Services· Vol 8· 0 citations
TL;DR
It is suggested that in a digitally transforming public sector, job performance is most directly enhanced by employees' digital capability, self-regulatory ability, and capacity for self-directed learning, while broader readiness-oriented competencies may require stronger socio-technical alignment and enabling organizational conditions to translate into measurable performance outcomes.
Abstract
The rapid adoption of Industry 4.0 technologies is transforming workforce skill requirements, yet empirical evidence on Staying Relevant competencies and their direct effects on job performance remains limited, particularly in public-sector and developing-economy contexts. This study investigates how five Industry 4.0 Staying Relevant competencies, adaptability, digital fluency, global perspective, learning agility, and self-management influence job performance among employees in Oman's public sector. Guided by Socio-Technical Systems Theory and Human Capital Development Theory, a quantitative cross-sectional design was employed using survey data collected from employees across Omani ministries and government agencies (n = 130). The measurement and structural models were analyzed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) with 10,000 bootstrapping resamples. The results reveal a differentiated pattern of findings: Digital Fluency emerged as the strongest and most statistically significant positive predictor of job performance, followed by Self-Management and Learning Agility, both of which also demonstrated significant positive effects. In contrast, Adaptability and Global Perspective did not produce significant direct effects within the multivariate model. These findings suggest that in a digitally transforming public sector, job performance is most directly enhanced by employees' digital capability, self-regulatory ability, and capacity for self-directed learning, while broader readiness-oriented competencies may require stronger socio-technical alignment and enabling organizational conditions to translate into measurable performance outcomes. This study contributes to the emerging Industry 4.0 workforce literature by providing context-specific empirical evidence from a non-Western public-sector setting and demonstrating that competency–performance relationships are not uniform across all dimensions of workforce readiness. The findings offer practical implications for public sector training design, capability development strategies, and workforce policies aligned with Oman's Vision 2040 modernization agenda.
Keywords: Industry 4.0; public sector; job performance; adaptability; digital fluency; global perspective; learning agility; self-management; PLS-SEM; socio-technical systems; human capital development, Oman Vision 2040
The Fourth Industrial Revolution (Industry 4.0) is transforming the workplace and increasing the need for employees to acquire new skills to remain effective, flexible, and productive within their organizations. While existing research suggests that Industry 4.0 skills positively influence employee performance, empirical evidence from the public sector and non-Western regions remains limited. This study fills that gap by exploring how three key Industry 4.0 competencies—Collaboration, Critical Thinking, and Stay Relevant-affect Job Performance in the Omani public sector. It also examines how Leadership Support moderates these relationships. The research is based on Socio-Technical Systems Theory, Human Capital Development Theory, the Resource-Based View, and Contingency Theory. Using a quantitative cross-sectional approach, data were collected through an online questionnaire from 130 employees across various Omani ministries and government agencies. The three competency constructs were modeled as second-order reflective constructs: Collaboration included Customer Orientation, Developing People, Communication, Building Inclusivity, and Influence; Critical Thinking encompassed Creative Thinking, Decision-Making, Sense-Making, Problem-Solving, and Transdisciplinary Thinking; Stay Relevant involved Adaptability, Digital Fluency, Global Perspective, Learning Agility, and Self-Management. Data analysis was conducted using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM), with 10,000 bootstrap resamples and a 90% confidence level, following established methods for variance-based SEM. The results confirmed that the measurement model demonstrated good reliability and validity. Consistent with theoretical expectations, all three competencies showed positive links to Job Performance. Regarding Leadership Support's moderating role, the results indicated a targeted effect: it significantly strengthened the positive impact of Collaboration on Job Performance, whereas its influence on Critical Thinking and Stay Relevant was not statistically significant. The study adds to existing knowledge by being among the first to empirically test this set of Industry 4. 0 competencies in a non-Western public sector context, illustrating that frameworks developed for Industry 4.0 can produce meaningful performance benefits even in complex institutional environments—though such effects depend on organizational support and leadership conditions. Practically, the findings emphasize the need to focus on developing collaboration skills, enhancing leadership practices, updating performance management systems to recognize Industry 4. 0 behaviors, and creating organizational environments that facilitate the effective application of Critical Thinking and Stay Relevant competencies to improve measurable performance outcomes.
Keywords: Industry 4.0 Skills; Competencies; Job Performance; Collaboration; Critical Thinking; and Stay Relevant; Leadership Support.
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