The amount of market information and number of new product ideas generated: An empirical investigation.

摘要

Determinants of product innovation performance have been the focus of studies in a variety of disciplines; however, an examination of prior research on this subject reveals gaps in our understanding of the nuances of product innovation capabilities of firms. The goal of this dissertation is to take an initial step toward closing these gaps by examining one component of product innovation, namely, the idea generation component, in greater detail. To this end, the primary research question driving the study is:; Why are some organizations able to generate more ideas for new products than others?; The conceptual model developed for this dissertation draws upon three streams of research. First, it is grounded in research that suggests that the amount of market information obtained by a firm impacts positively on the number of new ideas that are generated (e.g., Damanpour 1991). It also draws on conceptual evidence suggesting that the impact of key organizational structure and climate characteristics differ for innovation initiation versus innovation implementation (e.g., Ginsberg and Venkatraman 1985). Finally, the model incorporates contingency theories (e.g., Zeithaml, Varadarajan, and Zeithaml 1988) by investigating the moderating effect of organizational structure and climate characteristics on the relationship between amount of market information and number of new product ideas generated.; The sampling frame for the study consists of 780 firms in the housewares manufacturing industry. Moderated regression analysis was used to test the hypothesis that the relationship between amount of market information and number of new product ideas generated is moderated by both organizational climate characteristics (e.g., open-mindedness and openness of communication) and organizational structure characteristics (e.g., centralization of market information, formalization of idea generation activities, and specialization of organization members' roles). Findings from the study offer evidence supporting the contingency perspective of product innovation capability. The results suggest that the amount of market information in the face of certain organizational structure and climate characteristics can augment the number of new product ideas generated by an organization. Insights into the likely organizational characteristics that interact with amount of market information to influence product idea generation are also provided.