The roles of reward structures and project characteristics in Taiwan's high-tech new product development team performance

Abstract

In Taiwan, the status of the high-tech industries is closely related to economic progress. Some of the reasons that make these industries remain profitable are a high degree of product innovation capability. This paper focuses on Taiwan's high-tech new product development (NPD) teams to probe into the influences of different reward structures and project characteristics on NPD team performance. Results of the study show a significant influence of cash-based rewards, procedure justice and the length of project development cycle on NPD team performance, as well as partial support for the impact of position-based, outcome-based rewards and project risk on NPD team performance. More importantly, when businesses offer more shares than cash as rewards, significantly positive effect is only exerted on 'adhere to budget and schedule,' and bears no significant effects on market performance.