A study of cross-functional collaboration in new product development: a social capital perspective

Abstract

This study explores New Product Development (NPD) performance from the viewpoint of the social capital theory. Interaction, perspective taking, and trust were treated as three antecedent variables in accordance with the three (structural, cognitive, and relational) dimensions of social capital. In the research frame, cross-functional collaboration was used as a mediating variable between the antecedent variables and NPD performance. The results show that both trust and perspective taking have significant impacts on cross-functional collaboration, and that cross-functional collaboration has a significant impact on NPD performance. The results, however, show no significant effect of interaction on collaboration, and this may imply that merely creating opportunity for interaction is not enough for collaboration to emerge.