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The impact of external involvement on new product market performance: An analysis of mediation and moderation

Huiying Zhang (College of Management and Economics, Tianjin University, Tianjin, China)
Fan Yang (College of Management and Economics, Tianjin University, Tianjin, China)

Industrial Management & Data Systems

ISSN: 0263-5577

Article publication date: 12 September 2016

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to bridge the gap in understanding the effects of external involvement on new product market performance. Particularly, the authors investigate the mediating effects of speed-to-market of new products and moderating effects of information technology (IT) implementation.

Design/methodology/approach

This study is based on the high-performance manufacturing (HPM) project database collected from 366 manufacturing plants in ten countries and three representative industries. The hierarchical regression analysis is employed to explore the relationships in the model.

Findings

The empirical findings indicate that speed-to-market of new products positively and significantly mediates the relationship between customer involvement and new product market performance. The results also demonstrate that IT implementation moderates the relationship between external involvement and speed-to-market of new products. More importantly, the findings reveal that supplier involvement is less likely to lead to the enhancement of speed-to-market if the firm is not able to establish a higher level of IT implementation.

Practical implications

This analysis uncovers the way of how customer and supplier involvement are related to new product market performance, and highlights the importance of IT implementation in absorbing and exploiting external resources.

Originality/value

This paper moves us from a simplistic understanding of external involvement to a more nuanced and complex model which is closer to reality. The obtained findings highlight the importance for manufacturers to establish speed advantage of new products and implement IT as an enabler.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

The authors thank three anonymous reviewers and the editor for their constructive suggestions on earlier versions of the paper. This work is supported by the Major Project of Social Sciences of Tianjin Education Commission in 2014 (2014ZD14), the Special Project of Science and Technology Development Strategy in Tianjin in 2013 (13ZLZLZF08900) and in 2015 (15ZLZLZF00750).

Citation

Zhang, H. and Yang, F. (2016), "The impact of external involvement on new product market performance: An analysis of mediation and moderation", Industrial Management & Data Systems, Vol. 116 No. 8, pp. 1520-1539. https://doi.org/10.1108/IMDS-11-2015-0485

Publisher

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Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2016, Emerald Group Publishing Limited

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