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Technological uncertainty and technological complexity are the two dominant characteristics of new product development (NPD) projects that have a negative influence on NPD performance, relying on a strong theoretical argumentation based on organizational information processing theory. The purpose of this study is the development of reliable and valid scales for the measurement of technological uncertainty and technological complexity, especially in the context of the discontinuous technological change of digitization.

This study uses material from 44 in-depth interviews, which has been transferred into a questionnaire, and survey data from 166 respondents from the German automotive industry in charge of the development and production of electric and electronic technologies (including software). In this context, exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses are used to test the developed scales for reliability and validity.

In this context, it can be stated that the developed scales affirm reliability and validity sufficiently. Interestingly, novelty, regarded as key item for measuring technological uncertainty, has to be dropped, as the factor loadings are under the cut-off of 0.40. Moreover, resulting items for measuring technological uncertainty and technological complexity do not deviate significantly from those discussed in previous study before the discontinuous technological change of digitization occurred.

This paper provides value for the discussion on how to measure technological uncertainty and technological complexity, especially in times of radical technological changes.

Technological uncertainty and technological complexity are key characteristics of new product development (NPD) projects that impose significant information processing requirements on organizations. This paper examines the direct influence of technological uncertainty and technological complexity as well as the indirect influence of work experience on organizational information processing capabilities.

The author used a sample of 166 respondents from the German automotive industry and applied linear hierarchical regression analysis.

The results confirm a negative influence of technological uncertainty and technological complexity on organizational information processing capability. This research also supports a moderating influence of work experience on these relationships.

This research helps to understand the relationship between technological uncertainty, technological complexity and OIPC. It represents a first and different approach to measure these constructs for further empirical studies and provides interesting managerial implications.