Corporate Makerspaces: An Empirical Mixed-Method Study of Its Elements and Their Impact on Users and Companies

Abstract

Corporate makerspaces (CMSs) have gained attention from both academics and practitioners. The paper introduces the first empirically-tested CMS framework, describing elements and their impact on users and companies. A mixed-method approach triangulates data from (i) a semi-quantitative online survey among 22 CMS managers and users, (ii) in-depth, structured interviews with CMS managers from 11 manufacturing companies, and (iii) an observation study and desk research on CMSs of the interviewed companies. The study shows that CMSs typically include prototyping infrastructure, community infrastructure, and facilitation. CMSs impact users by supporting prototyping, creativity, experimentation, and knowledge sharing. CMSs have an additional effect on the company by increasing innovation culture, collaboration with external stakeholders, intrapreneurship, employee retention & attraction. Thus, this paper is beneficial for innovation and engineering management practitioners who have or plan to have a CMS and for academics who want to do further research on CMSs and innovation.