Into IR4.0: Charting the Social and Occupational Changes in Industrialised Malaysia

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic may have disrupted the socioeconomic fabrics of the world, but it also has spurred the incorporation of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (IR4.0) technologies into organisational operations, work settings, service deliveries and our everyday life. The workability and cost-effectiveness of these technologies will motivate companies to enhance their incorporation into respective organisational and operational designs. This will subsequently change our employment and the way we work as evident in the technological changes throughout previous industrial revolutions. This overview aims at charting out the universal societal changes, particularly changes in work aspects, corresponding to industrialisation; and how IR4.0 may alter current social and occupational landscapes in the near future. These universals are then used to contextualise the social and occupational changes during Malaysian industrialisation. The challenges and some suggestions for the direction of future research on work/ occupation as Malaysia ventures into IR4.0 are presented at the end of this overview.