Complexity to Clarity : How Early-stage Digital Product Passport (DPP) Ventures Navigate Syntactic and Semantic Boundaries

Digital Product Passports (DPPs) hold promise for advancing circular economy goals by enabling product lifecycle transparency. Yet, effectively communicating these complex technical systems to diverse stakeholders remains a major challenge. Early-stage ventures, often leading DPP development, must translate these systems across varied knowledge levels and institutional logics. This thesis investigates how such ventures make DPPs understandable by navigating syntactic knowledge boundaries (where standardized formats are lacking) and semantic boundaries (where shared meaning is absent), using Carlile’s (2004) boundary-spanning theory. Through qualitative analysis of digital materials from twelve European startups and interviews with ten industry practitioners, the study identifies how startups deploy communication strategies across media and stakeholder contexts. Findings reveal the use of layered strategies addressing both syntactic and semantic gaps. These include standardized terminology, structured schemas, narrative framing, technical metaphors, and ESG-aligned messaging, which are adapted by communication channel, audience, and adoption stage. This research extends boundary-spanning theory by demonstrating that communication design, beyond data infrastructure, drives stakeholder alignment in emerging regulatory environments. Practical implications include recommendations for startups developing communicative frameworks to navigate complex compliance landscapes.