Additive manufacturing (AM) adoption remains limited not only by technical and firm-level barriers, but also by systemic AM adoption barriers that arise across organizational boundaries. This study investigates how inter-organizational management mechanisms can be systematically designed to overcome these barriers by shifting the focus from intra-firm measures to actor constellations embedded in the AM ecosystem.
The research employs a qualitative-exploratory design based on 19 expert interviews within the German AM ecosystem. The GABEK-WinRelan analysis reconstructs barrier constellations and their associative linkages; an ordonomic governance framework interprets these constellations as inter-organizational dilemma structures.
The study identifies four barrier constellations and governance responses: intellectual property right insecurity requires traceable data-handling commitments; quality ambivalence requires credible quality signaling through certified material systems; standardization fragmentation requires sector-specific collective alignment and skill shortages require intermediary-supported investment in qualification pathways.
The findings provide manufacturing managers with a diagnostic heuristic based on two questions: whether a systemic AM adoption barrier reflects a unilateral or collective coordination problem, and whether addressing it requires self-binding or an enabling commitment service. The study offers actionable management strategies to foster trust, interoperability, quality assurance and skill development within manufacturing networks embedded in the AM ecosystem.
This paper advances AM adoption research by conceptualizing persistent systemic AM adoption barriers as inter-organizational dilemma structures and by linking them to distinct governance logics. It thereby moves beyond technical or firm-centric explanations and provides an incentive-based vocabulary for explaining how credible commitments and coordinated investments can support AM adoption in manufacturing networks.
