Success Factors of Product Innovation: An Updated Meta‐Analysis

Background
Engineering student team projects are frequently used to meet professional learning outcomes. Industrial and organizational psychologists study teams in the industry settings for which we prepare students, yet this research does not effectively inform engineering education.

Purpose
This research review sought to demonstrate the relevance of literature on teams literature from industrial and organizational psychology to engineering education and to identify implications for practice and future directions for research.

Scope/Method
Phase 1 systematically reviewed 104 articles published from 2007 to 2012 describing engineering and computer science student team projects and sought to answer the following questions: What professional learning outcomes have been met by team projects? What negative student team behaviors have faculty sought to minimize? What literature has been used to inform development of teamwork outcomes? Phase 2 reviewed five team effectiveness constructs selected according to the results of Phase 1: social loafing, interdependence, conflict, trust, and shared mental models. Examples from Phase 1 articles and our own work explain how this research informs facilitation and assessment of engineering student teams.

Conclusions
Engineering faculty sought to achieve a variety of outcomes through team projects, including teamwork, communication, sustainability, and consideration of global/societal design context. They sought to avoid social loafing and conflict while building trust to ensure equal team effort. That few Phase 1 articles engaged the literature about team effectiveness indicates there is great opportunity to apply industrial and organizational psychology research to engineering education.

Team Effectiveness Theory from Industrial and Organizational Psychology Applied to Engineering Student Project Teams: A Research Review

Purpose



– Prior research in the area of organizational change highlights the critical role played by HR practices during organizational change as it may require altering employee behavior to support the change direction. human resource (HR) function is considered to be well positioned to influence employee behavior by institutionalizing HR practices that support change. Further there is a significant body of literature that suggests that employee behavior is significantly influenced by the perceptions of HR practices during change. HR practices which create positive employee perceptions increase employee commitment to change. The purpose of this paper is to provide a conceptual framework that identifies critical HR practices that support organizational change and examines their impact on employee perception and commitment to change. 




Design/methodology/approach



– First, an extensive literature review on organizational change at macro level has been done to identify critical practices desired from key organizational members during organizational change. Second, a case for importance of HR function as a key organizational member during change is presented. Further literature on effectiveness of HR practices adopted by HR professionals during organizational change is examined to find out the gap areas. Third, literature on employee perception and commitment to change is examined to find out possible linkages to HR practices during organizational change. Finally, eight propositions are presented to build an integrated conceptual framework identifying critical HR practices during organizational change and their impact on employee perception and commitment to change. 




Findings



– The study suggests that HR practices undertaken in the area of culture, leadership, cross functional integration, training, communication and technology if introduced and implemented will positively influence employee perception reducing resistance and increasing commitment to change. Therefore assessing employee perception about critical HR practices at different stages of change initiation, implementation and consolidation can enable understanding about employee commitment to change. This would also help HR professionals understand how effective the HR practices implemented during change have been. 




Originality/value



– This framework can be used by the researchers and practitioners to study, guide, frame and model empirical research into the area of studying critical HR practices during organizational change. So far literature provides a generic view of desired organizational practices during change. Moreover there are few studies available on employee perception about HR practices implemented during organizational change and its impact on employee commitment to change. The framework presented in this paper would help explore the effectiveness of specific HR practices implemented during change by evaluating its impact on employee perception and commitment to change.

Identifying critical HR practices impacting employee perception and commitment during organizational change

Purpose




The purpose of this study is to propose a model of a value cocreation strategy (VCS) for analyzing how enterprises adopt innovative, marketing, and design strategies to achieve their performance goals through cocreation




Design/methodology/approach




In the present study, a case study was conducted to establish a preliminary model Subsequently, 1,000 NPD project managers in information and communications technology industries were approached to complete a two-stage questionnaire survey The first survey investigated the VCSs they adopted for their marketing, innovation and design activities (valid questionnaires recovered=283) The valid respondents completed a second survey measuring their NPD performance 18 months after launching a new product (valid questionnaires recovered=247)




Findings




A conceptual was constructed to explain the effects of innovation marketing and design cocreation strategies on NPD performance A partial least squares method was used to test the model showing a good fit between the model and the survey data, indicating the applicability of the proposed model The innovation marketing and design cocreation strategies of the enterprises affected their NPD performance Enterprises adopting diverse cocreation strategies improved their NPD performance The cocreation strategies in the model were independent and mediating variables to NPD performance A qualitative comparative analysis was performed to examine which strategy configurations affected NPD performance and to explore any regular patterns in them Finally, a cluster analysis was conducted to investigate four cocreation strategies: market development, technology improvement, cost direction and customer service




Research limitations/implications




Whether different industry categories involve different characteristics and whether different corporate cultures cause inconsistent result in value cocreation warrants further in-depth investigation In addition, the two surveys conducted in this study were separated by 18 months, and thus, only the short-term NPD performance could be presented Future studies are recommended to conduct an extensive exploration of different industries, administer long-term surveys, investigate the different levels of influence of various types of enterprise on the proposed research model or examine the degree of difference in the mechanisms and methods adopted for elevating innovation performance




Practical implications




Enterprises can reference the proposed approach to optimize their product development and services according to their organizational resources and market advantages to increase their market coverage




Originality/value




This study was the first empirical study to examine critical factors, such as product innovation, marketing, design and value cocreation strategies, and NPD performance by administering two-stage surveys Enterprises can reference the proposed method according to their organizational resources and market advantages to develop products and services efficiently and face the ever-changing market

A value cocreation strategy model for improving product development performance

Increasing calls from university stakeholders to optimise innovation capabilities has never been more urgent given the increasing link between industry and universities. However, innovation activities that underpin the commercialisation attempts of universities are seldom translated into commercialisation success. This is mainly attributed to poor management of innovation processes between innovation networks. Empirical evidence indicates that trust relationships between innovation actors are difficult to achieve because of the perceived risk of disclosure, managerial complexity and conflicts of culture. The purpose of this review paper is to examine how open innovation within universities enhances innovation practices that lead to commercialisation success. Other connecting variables that embody trust, motivation to innovate and strategic leadership are equally important. Several hypotheses are developed, and a research model connects the innovation constructs. This paper is expected to make a significant contribution to connecting literatures that inform successful university-led and industry-led partnerships.

Open Innovation in Universities: The Relationship Between Innovation and Commercialisation

Trust and Coordination in Cross-Functional New Product Development (NPD) Teams and the Effects on New Product Development Performance: The Malaysian Perspective

N. Mat

Papers

Trust and Coordination in Cross-Functional New Product Development (NPD) Teams and the Effects on New Product Development Performance: The Malaysian Perspective