INTRODUCTION

Throughout history industrial revolutions were synonymous with new technological advancements, from the steam engine to automation and robots (Xu, 2018). This focus reached its peak with Industry 4.0 with the integration of high-tech industrial strategies and technologies like artificial intelligence (AI), blockchain, and the internet of things (IoT) (Barata & Kayser, 2023). However, in the new era of Industry 5.0, technological innovation is expected to align with human-centric, sustainable, and resilient forms of work(European Commission, 2021). This shift places greater emphasis on lifelong learning, upskilling, and reskilling as keys to successful transformation. At the same time, concerns about work-related health and stress outcomes remain central in industrial environments(Eurofound, 2021).

Over recent years, research on workplace learning and work-related health in industrial settings has expanded considerably, leading to multiple systematic reviews across diverse subtopics. These reviews have investigated various learning interventions (e.g., technical training, digital learning, stress-targeted programs), different health and well-beingoutcomes (e.g., occupational stress, burnout, job satisfaction), and varied industrial contexts (e.g., manufacturing, automotive, smart factories). However, the evidence across these reviews has not been synthesized at a higher level, leaving uncertainty about the overall relationship between workplace learning and employees’ health, the consistency of findings across different contexts and methodologies, and the quality of the evidence (Lagrosen & Lagrosen, 2018).

An umbrella review—a systematic synthesis of multiple systematic reviews and meta-analyses—is needed to provide a comprehensive overview of this broad field (Fernandez, 2025; Abdellatif, 2025). By combining evidence from these reviews, this umbrella review will clarify relationships among workplace learning interventions and work-related health outcomes In industrial settings by identifying patterns of consistency and discrepancy in findings. It will also evaluate the methodological quality of available reviews, map the evidence landscape across different learning interventions and health outcomes, and highlight critical knowledge gaps that need further investigation. This overarching perspective is essential for understanding how different types of workplace learning impact work-related health across industrial settings and for informing evidence-based policy and practice in the Industry 5.0 era.

Primary systematic reviews focus on specific interventions or outcomes, while this umbrella review synthesizes findings from multiple reviews to address broader questions:

• What is known about workplace learning and work-related health in industrial settings? 

• Where do reviews converge or diverge? 

• What gaps remain in the review evidence? 

• What is the quality and certainty of the synthesized evidence? 

The answers will guide future research practices, organizational strategies, learning initiatives, and policies supporting human-centric industrial transformation.

Aim:

This umbrella review synthesizes existing systematic reviews and meta-analyses on workplace learning practices and work-related health outcomes in industrial settings, with a focus on Industry 5.0. Specifically, we aim to (1) map existing review evidence on learning interventions and health outcomes; (2) identify consistent and divergent findings across reviews; (3) assess methodological quality and evidence certainty; and (4) highlight evidence gaps for future reviews or research. To our knowledge, no umbrella review of this scope has been published.

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Policies influence countries' economic sectors, such as the industrial sector. Industry 4.0 (I4.0) demands employees upskilling and can impact unemployment and HIE curricula. The paper proposes to bring forth, analyse engineering education related to I4.0 policies. The paper compares policies related to Workers 5.0 discussing education and training for both regular students and employees (white and blue collars), from polar cases representing emerging countries (Brazil & India), and developed countries (Japan and Sweden). These countries have created policies to become independent and improve their innovation ecosystem. The I4.0 literature and white paper indicate different country-specificities. The paper explores research gaps related to I4.0 and its effect on workers’ competencies; which factors to consider in Human Resource Management; understanding impacts on country education. Comparing how these different countries adjust to I4.0 may contribute to manufacturing sectors addressing this new digital context, contributing to theoretical advancement and informing policy and practice in higher education. The findings indicate education and upskilling concerns, and these countries are reviewing their Engineering Education towards increased digital transformation in the whole society.

This paper addresses how employees’ perceptions of organizational and technological aspects of digital transformation in manufacturing contexts contribute to understanding co-workership. To answer this, the research design is rooted in an engaged scholarship approach and work-integrated learning in close collaboration with a case company to understand organisational and digital transformations over time.

The study consisted of five focus groups with a total of 25 participants and applied the framework of the co-workership wheel to contribute to the understanding of inclusion of co-workers in digital transformation processes. The results show the need for learning and reflection as an additional conceptual pair and thus propose an extended co-workership wheel for the manufacturing context.

The study contributes to how transdisciplinary research collaboration can be designed to address the complexity of the human-technology nexus in the context of Industry 5.0 and to identify incentives from the manufacturing industry to engage in transdisciplinary research efforts. Engaged scholarship and work-integrated learning approaches are applied to integrate diverse research disciplines and active stakeholder engagement to address complex societal challenges. The methodology of this research is a qualitative case study, including workshops and focus groups with a project consortium of eight companies, with industry experts and university researchers. Findings contribute to transdisciplinary research collaboration viewed as an iterative continuous process including three phases for the process of reaching full potential of transcending disciplines and organizations. Contribution shows that industry highlights the need to address human challenges in smart technology adoption, motivating engagement in transdisciplinary research. Advancing smart manufacturing requires embracing creativity and innovation in the human-technology nexus. Further, transdisciplinary research collaboration needs to be based on trust, relationships, sharing, courage, mutual understanding and respect for each other's disciplines and expertise. The collaborative design accentuates the significance of transdisciplinary research in university-industry collaboration when moving forward with human-centric and smart manufacturing in line with the evolving Industry 5.0 paradigm

Purpose –

The purpose is to apply the co-workership approach to contribute guidelines for manufacturing managers to exploit the potential of digital technologies through a human-centric perspective.

Design/methodology/approach –

A longitudinal single case study within manufacturing including a mix of qualitative methods with 18 in-depth interviews and focus groups with 25 participants covering all organizational levels and functions.

Findings –

Findings demonstrate that to re-interpret manufacturing management through the lens of Industry 5.0 (I5.0), managers need to respond to the call for a more human-centric perspective by focusing on organizational prerequisites, such as holistic understanding, inclusive organizational change, leadership practices, learning and innovation processes.

Research limitations/implications –

Limitations due to a single case study are compensated with rich data collected over time with the strengths of mixed methods through in-depth interviews and focus groups with participants reflecting and developing ideas jointly.

Practical implications –

Managers’ awareness of organizational prerequisites to promote human perspectives in all functions and at all levels in digital transformation is pivotal. Thus, proposed organizational prerequisites are presented as managers’ guidelines for future innovative manufacturing.

Social implications –

Findings emphasize the need for digital transformation managers to apply a human-centric perspective acknowledging how organizational changes affect the inclusion of employees, and thus challenge culture, structure, communication and trust toward I5.0.

Originality/value –

The study contributes to the emerging field of I5.0 by applying an interdisciplinary approach to understand the elusive phenomena of enfolding technology and humans.

Purpose – Technological advancements and global societal changes reshapes manufacturing industry emphasizing needs for competence development of industrial professionals. The purpose of this paper is tostudy how organizational learning supports the development of academic structures, creating agile and sustainable formal educational models meeting novel competence needs.

Design/methodology/approach – The qualitative case study, part of a longitudinal research study,focuses on internal academic processes supporting a new formal educational model. Qualitative datawas collected through five focus groups, incorporating 32 informants from different HEI function categories.

Findings – Changing traditional academic structures requires joint engagement between all HEI functions,emphasizing organizational learning with subprocesses of searching, creating, sustaining and exchangingknowledge in a learning loop. Results show a consensus among the different HEI functions regarding thevalue of the HEI’s coproduction with society; however, bureaucracy and academic structure hinder flexibility.Cross-functional teams building a “chain-of-trust” throughout the HEI coupled with full management supportshow opportunities to progress into a learning organization.

Practical implications – Organizational learning within HEIs requires trustful and open communication,multifunction knowledge exchange, holistic views of processes and system thinking, achieved through crossfunctional teams and continuous improvement through learning loops.

Social implications – Industry-academic collaboration on formal education for lifelong learning needs to become both agile and resilience to meet technological advancement and sustainability.

Originality/value – Novel technology, digitalization and sustainability gain ground and require thatsociety and organizations, including academia, change and learn. This means that academia is meeting new challenges and needs to develop internal processes.

Purpose –

Perceived benefits of building information modelling (BIM) have been discussed for some time, but cost–benefit benchmarking has been inconsistent. The purpose of this paper is to investigate BIM feasibility and evaluate investment worth to elucidate and develop the current understanding of BIM merit. The aim of the study is to propose a research agenda towards a more holistic perspective of BIM use incorporating quantifying investment return.

Design/methodology/approach –

An in-depth examination of research patterns has been conducted to identify challenges in the assessment of the investment value and return on investment (ROI) for BIM in the construction industry. A total of 75 research articles were considered for the final literature review. An evaluation of the literature is conducted using a combination of bibliometric analysis and systematic reviews.

Findings –

This study, which analysed 75 articles, unveils key findings in quantifying BIM benefits, primarily through ROI calculation. Two major research gaps are identified: the absence of a standardized BIM ROI method and insufficient exploration of intangible benefits. Research focus varies across phases, emphasizing design and construction integration and exploring post-construction phases. The study categorizes quantifiable factors, including productivity, changes and rework reduction, requests for information reduction, schedule efficiency, safety, environmental sustainability and operations and facility management. These findings offer vital insights for researchers and practitioners, enhancing understanding of ’BIM’s financial benefits and signalling areas for further exploration in construction.

Originality/value –

The ’study’s outcomes offer the latest insights for researchers and practitioners to create effective approaches for quantifying ’BIM’s financial benefits. Additionally, the proposed research agenda aims to improve the current limited understanding of BIM feasibility and investment worth evaluation. Results of the study could assist practitioners in overcoming limitations associated with BIM investment and economic evaluations in the construction industry.

Coming from an engaged scholarship approach, this paper reflects on insights from seven research projects tracing how human-centricity has evolved over a decade in the Swedish manufacturing industry. The paper shows how humans have been framed as skillful workers to recognize them as reflective agents, socio-technical stakeholders, and co-creators. While recent industry and university collaborative initiatives emphasize inclusion and well-being, humans are rarely centered as actors with agency. Instead, the perspective of human-centricity operates as a strategic narrative rather than a transformative principle within a digital context. As such, we argue for a more critical understanding of human-centricity in relation to digital transformation, which continually questions what it means to place the human at the center in a manufacturing organization in a contemporary digital era.