Information technologies and product-service innovation: The moderating role of service R&D team structure

Ferran Vendrell-Herrero, Oscar F. Bustinza and Marco Opazo-Basaez

Journal of Business Research, 2021, vol. 128, issue C, 673-687

Abstract: Drawing on the ambidexterity and organizational design theoretical lenses this article analyzes the interplay between R&D team structure, firm’s Information Technology (IT) processes deployment and innovation outcomes. The evidence presented herein upholds the importance of IT and R&D team structure for strategic decisions and to better exploiting firm’s innovation capabilities. Concretely, we argue that R&D team structure (centralized vs formalized vs autonomous) moderates the relationship between IT processes and innovation because it influences the way in which IT is utilized. Considering these facts, we focus on a specific type of innovation, Product-Service Innovation (PSI), largely underexplored despite being increasingly important in modern manufacturing companies. PSI differs from other technological innovations in that it involves continuous engagement with customers and logistics. Through estimation of a Multiple-Indicators Multiple-Causes (MIMIC) model with a unique sample of 352 Manufacturing Multinational Enterprises (MMNEs), we find that customer and logistics IT processes are positively linked to higher levels of PSI and that, as hypothesized, service R&D team structure moderates this relationship. In firms with autonomous R&D teams, customer-based IT processes lead to higher PSI levels, whereas in firms with formalized R&D teams, logistics-based IT processes is conducive to higher PSI levels. IT processes are not an input of PSI in centralized service R&D teams.

Keywords: Product-service innovation; IT processes; R&D teams; Centralization; MIMIC (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (13)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0148296320300606
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jbrese:v:128:y:2021:i:c:p:673-687

DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2020.01.047

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of Business Research is currently edited by A. G. Woodside

More articles in Journal of Business Research from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().