The impact of external search, tie strength, and absorptive capacity on new product development performance

Abstract

This study examines the influences of external search breadth and depth on new product development performance from a knowledge-based view. In particular, we introduce tie strength and absorptive capacity as two contextual variables in this study. The findings from data on 281 Chinese firms indicate that search breadth facilitates new product creativity, whereas search depth facilitates development speed. Tie strength weakens the relationships between search breadth and new product creativity but strengthens the relationship between search depth and development speed. Furthermore, the synergistic effect of tie strength and absorptive capacity negatively moderates the relationship between search breadth and new product creativity but positively moderates the relationship between search depth and development speed.