The role of relationship promoter in new product development collaboration

Abstract

Since new product development (NPD) collaborations with external partners have become the next generation in NPD practices, relationship promoters have become especially relevant as key contributors to the success of this type of inter-organisational collaboration. To realise successful outcomes in NPD collaborations, partners face the challenge of effectively integrating the role of relationship promoter into their existing and essential relationships of trust. It is within this context that this paper examines the role of the relationship promoter, by analysing its moderating effect on the relationship between trust and the outcomes of NPD collaboration – including new product competitiveness and partner satisfaction. We test our hypotheses against survey data from 107 innovative firms involved in NPD collaboration with the help of relationship promoters. The results show that, while a non-significant influence can be reported about the presence of a relationship promoter in terms of partner satisfaction, the relationship promotor weakens the influence of trust on new product competitiveness, making trust less important when it comes to creating a competitive new product.