The impact of IT infrastructure capability on NPD performance: The roles of market knowledge and innovation process formality

Abstract

Researchers and practitioners are increasingly considering Information Technology Infrastructure (ITI) capability as a competitive tool for New Product Development (NPD). However, current knowledge on how ITI capability influences NPD performance remains unclear, as the existing literature has neither developed nor empirically tested an explanation for how external knowledge and internal innovation processes impact the ‘ITI capability – NPD performance’ relationship. Therefore, we theorize and examine how ITI capability affects NPD performance taking into account market knowledge as a mediator and the innovation process formality as a moderator. We provide empirical evidence that ITI capability is not only directly and positively related to NPD performance, but also indirectly by means of market knowledge. The results further show that the innovation process formality weakens this relationship. Overall, this study extends the understanding of how ITI capability influences NPD performance and it can be helpful for managers who seek superior NPD performance.