Market Knowledge Dimensions and Cross-Functional Collaboration: Examining the Different Routes to Product Innovation Performance

By Luigi M. De Luca, Kwaku Atuahene-Gima. 2007

1,138 citations recorded by the source corpus.

There is consensus in the marketing literature that market knowledge and cross-functional collaboration are two fundamental resources for successful product innovation. However, few studies examine the dimensions or characteristics of market knowledge and how and why these resources influence product innovation performance. Drawing on contingency theory and the knowledge-based view of the firm, the authors argue that knowledge integration mechanisms may account for the effects of market knowledge dimensions (i.e., breadth, depth, tacitness, and specificity) and cross-functional collaboration on product innovation performance. They find that market knowledge specificity and cross-functional collaboration affect product innovation performance through knowledge integration mechanisms. In contrast, whereas the effect of market knowledge depth is partially mediated, market knowledge breadth has a direct, unmediated effect on product innovation performance. A test of an alternative moderating perspective shows that the effects of market knowledge depth and cross-functional collaboration on product innovation are negatively moderated by knowledge integration mechanisms. By showing the differential effects of market knowledge dimensions on product innovation performance, the authors provide a more refined understanding of the interplay among market knowledge, its integration, and the firm's performance in product innovation. The authors also conclude that by overlooking the role of knowledge integration mechanisms, previous research may have provided an overly optimistic view of the value of cross-functional collaboration in product innovation.

Subfields: Computer Science Applications, Sociology and Political Science, Strategy and Management

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/1fdea5e99f7f7125b9b47a19dc104874fc98369c

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Citations in the corpus

Utilizing customer knowledge in innovation: antecedents and impact of customer involvement on new product performance (2015, neutral): “First, as the input to the knowledge management process, the nature of knowledge influences the effectiveness of knowledge utilization (Grant 1996; Nonaka 1994) and thus may determine the proper approach of managing customer knowledge (De Luca and Atuahene-Gima 2007).”
Integrating Multiple Stakeholder Issues in New Product Development : An Exploration (2013, background): “Market information dissemination involves communication of relevant information among different users, departments, or business functions (De Luca and Atuahene-Gima, 2007).”
The moderating impact of internal social exchange processes on the entrepreneurial orientation–performance relationship (2010, background): “…R&D-related (R&D, engineering) and marketing-related functions (marketing, sales) for the successful implementation of organizational strategy (De Luca and Atuahene-Gima, 2007), the questions assessed the presence of fair procedures between R&D and engineering on the one hand and marketing and…”
Intellectual capital and knowledge productivity: the Taiwan biotech industry (2010, background): “As well, we control for the size of firms since large organizations are more likely to have the resources needed to adopt new innovations (Subramaniam and Youndt, 2005; De Luca and Atuahene-Gima, 2007) and to exploit existing knowledge (Yli-Renko et al., 2001).”