mapping procurement 4.0: a heatmap framework from a systematic literature review

Procurement 4.0 represents a fundamental change in procurement, driven by the adoption of advanced industry 4.0 technologies. however, despite growing academic interest and recognized benefits, including efficiency gains through process automation, technology implementation faces significant delays in procurement. as a result, opportunities, such as mitigating labor shortages, are underutilized. persistent barriers, including limited awareness, and uncertainty regarding the most effective technologies, continue to impede progress. against this backdrop, this paper proposes a conceptual heatmap framework to support the integration of advanced technologies into procurement. by systematically mapping procurement 4.0 applications across sub-processes, the heatmap provides a comprehensive overview of use cases and reveals existing research gaps. a systematic literature review (slr), supplemented by thematic, content, and frequency analyses, examines 275 applications categorized by automation potential. the findings reveal dominant technology clusters in the academic debate, yet a persistent gap between research and practice remains. the most extensively studied cluster demonstrates only moderate automation, indicating that research tends to position technology as a decision-support tool rather than a driver of full automation. in this context autonomous procurement remains an aspirational goal rather than an established reality. the introduced heatmap offers researchers a systematic and current synthesis of key applications and unresolved research questions, while providing practitioners with a structured foundation for implementing procurement 4.0 technologies.