AWARENESS OF THE INDUSTRY 4.0 CONCEPT IN LOCAL GOVERNMENT UNITS IN THE LIGHT OF THE RESPONDENTS’ SOCIAL CHARACTERISTICS

Industry 4.0 refers to the fourth industrial revolution, which has been underway for several years. Nevertheless, many people are still unfamiliar with the concept of Industry 4.0 and its practical implications. The aim of this article is to present the results concerning awareness of the Industry 4.0 concept among employees of local government units (LGUs), taking into account the respondents’ socio-demographic characteristics. The study was conducted in 2025 on a sample of 68 employees from LGUs located in four counties of the Podkarpackie Voivodeship: Bieszczadzki, Brzozowski, Leski and Sanocki. Statistical analyses were performed using PS IMAGO PRO 10.0 (SPSS Statistics). The chi-square test and Fisher’s exact test were applied to examine relationships between variables, while Cramér’s V coefficient was used to assess the strength of these relationships. The analysis of the influence of respondents’ socio-demographic characteristics on awareness of the Industry 4.0 concept revealed no statistically significant relationships in most cases. The absence of significant associations may be attributed to the relatively small sample size, which limits the possibility of drawing unequivocal conclusions. Gender was the only characteristic for which a statistically significant relationship was identified. Consequently, the hypothesis that familiarity with the term “Industry 4.0” among local government employees is determined by respondents’ socio-demographic characteristics was not confirmed.