Decoding the causal relationship of IoT barriers adoption in closed-loop supply chains: an ISM-DEMATEL-fuzzy MICMAC approach

Sustainability is among the greatest concerns of supply chain (SC) professionals, academia and policy planners. Recently, the notion of an Industry 4.0 and Closed Loop Supply Chain (CLSC) has gained attention to achieve sustainability. The integration of Internet of Things (IoT), with CLSC presents substantial potential for advancing sustainability. However, the integration of IoT into CLSC faces several barriers that hinder the effective adoption and implementation of IoT technologies. Hence, this study identifies and analyses the IoT adoption barriers in CLSC. A literature survey, along with input from domain experts, has revealed ten key barriers of IoT adoption within CLSC. Further, an integration of Interpretive Structural Modelling (ISM), DEMATEL, and fuzzy MICMAC is applied to explore the structural relationship among these barriers. The ISM model is structured into four hierarchical levels. Findings show that ‘risk-aversive culture’, ‘low awareness about IoT benefits’ and ‘poor IT infrastructure’ are significant barriers. The strength of the relationships among the barriers is further quantified using the DEMATEL method, through which the barriers are classified into cause-and-effect groups. Fuzzy MICMAC analysis is also utilised to cluster the barriers into four categories. This study could be useful for developing strategies/solutions to overcome the identified barriers to IoT adoption.