|
Abstract Shared manufacturing is a new manufacturing model where production capacity and resources are shared. It is a product of an effective combination of the sharing economy concept and intelligent manufacturing technology. Manufacturing enterprises can effectively reduce production costs and improve resource utilization and production efficiency by sharing production equipment, human resources, and technology. Accelerating the development of shared manufacturing models is of great significance for steering China into a global manufacturing powerhouse. A shared manufacturing platform is the medium and carrier for achieving shared manufacturing. How to optimize various factors to enhance user activity on such platforms and promote production resource sharing is an important practical problem.
Based on the TOE framework, this research comprehensively applies the necessary condition analysis (NCA) and fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) methods to collect quantitative data from 26 typical shared manufacturing platforms in China to analyze the various paths for such platforms to generate a high user activity from a configuration perspective. The findings are as follows: (1) Six factors, namely, platform technical functions, security and credibility, platform scale, resource integration capability, industrial innovation level, and external support, may affect the user activity on shared manufacturing platforms. (2) None of these factors constitutes a necessary condition for a platform to generate a high user activity; however, external support from governments, industry associations, and financial institutions plays a universal role. (3) There are three equivalent paths to enhancing user activity on a platform, namely, expanding platform scale-seeking external support, integrating internal resources-seeking external support, and enhancing security-seeking external support. (4) Three equivalent paths are found to lead to a non-high user activity on a platform, confirming that the causal mechanism behind a high/non-high user activity on a platform is asymmetrical.
This research is expected to make the following potential theoretical contributions. (1) Existing research on user activity on shared manufacturing platforms is based on single case studies, and the robustness and universality of the conclusions drawn are lacking. This study collects quantitative data from 26 samples of diverse shared manufacturing platforms serving different fields for multi-case studies, which can enhance the external validity of the case studies, obtain more universal and robust conclusions, and compensate for the inadequacies of the existing literature. (2) The study examines how six factors in technology, organization, and environment jointly affect platform user activities from a configuration perspective, changing the approach of empirical analysis of single-variable net effects. This broadens research ideas on platform user activity and provides a useful supplement to existing research. (3) This study adopts a combination of NCA and fsQCA methods. This way, not only can we determine whether a certain condition is necessary for the outcome variable but we can also show the degree of necessity at different variable levels. Simultaneously, the two methods confirm each other, thereby improving the robustness of the analysis and conclusions. (4) The study finds that multiple configurations generate a high (non-high) user activity on shared manufacturing platforms. It is confirmed that the opposite of configurations that generate a high user activity does not lead to a non-high user activity, which expands our understanding of the causal structure of a high user activity.
|
|
Published: 28 July 2024
|
|
|
|
