AI-enabled immersive collaboration and resilience in manufacturing systems: reconstructing psychological contracts

Purpose This study investigates how digital technologies reshape relational governance in manufacturing supply networks. Specifically, it introduces the concept of digitally reconstructed psychological contracts and examines how AI-enabled collaborative environments and knowledge-sharing mechanisms influence trust formation and resilience in manufacturing ecosystems. Design/methodology/approach Using an abductive qualitative approach, thirteen semi-structured interviews were conducted with senior professionals across manufacturing, logistics, consulting, and digital technology firms operating within US-based industrial supply chains. Interview data were analyzed iteratively through abductive coding and theoretical reconciliation, drawing on social–ecological resilience and Panarchy perspectives to refine an initial conceptual model. Findings The findings indicate that psychological contracts in digitally evolving manufacturing ecosystems are reconstructed through three distinct trust mechanisms: performance-based trust, lateral (peer-to-peer) trust and technology-mediated trust. These trust structures give rise to differentiated resilience pathways, including proactive, preemptive, digital and labor-centric resilience. The analysis further demonstrates that contextual conditions including digital maturity, feedback infrastructure, intellectual property sensitivity, and workforce stability shape the extent to which AI-enabled collaboration technologies influence relational governance and resilience outcomes. Originality/value This study contributes to manufacturing technology and supply chain research by introducing the concept of Supply Chain Resilience Potentiality (SCRP), a framework explaining how resilience emerges from the interaction of ecosystem pressures, digital infrastructures, knowledge-sharing mechanisms and reconstructed psychological contracts. It demonstrates that resilience arises from aligning digital infrastructures with relational governance, enabling trust-based coordination and adaptive responses across manufacturing networks.