The more engagement, the better? The influence of supplier engagement on new product design in the social media context

Abstract

Supplier engagement (SE) is generally regarded as an essential approach for firms seeking new product innovation. However, in a social media context, is it true that the more supplier engagement there is, the better the new product design will be? This study explores the nonlinear effects of supplier engagement on new product innovation (NPI) performance in a social media context and further identifies the mechanisms through which knowledge sharing occurs and through which knowledge orchestration capability (KOC) is moderated. The results show the following. First, there is an inverted U-shaped relationship between supplier engagement and NPI performance. Second, SE positively impacts NPI performance, and knowledge sharing has an inverted U-shaped relationship with NPI performance. Further, when firms have a high-level rather than a low-level KOC, knowledge sharing has a significant mediating role. Finally, KOC positively moderates the inverted U-shaped relationship between knowledge sharing and NPI performance, and the inflection point of the inverted U-shaped curve is shifted upward when KOC is high.