Fostering new product development through social media tools within an emerging digital world

ABSTRACT

Existing research provides mixed insights regarding social media’s (SM) effect on new product advantage (NPA). We emphasise on this inconsistency by focusing on the fact SM has different effects on two kinds of NPA: new product development speed (NPD speed) and new product creativity (NPC). We suggest that SM can boost NPD speed and yet have an inverted U-shaped effect on NPC. Furthermore, we argue that top management team diversity (TMT diversity) enhances the effects of SM on NPA. We verify and provide evidence to support our hypotheses using 150 sample firms based in China. This study highlights the NPA trade-offs related to SM and provides crucial theoretical contributions and managerial implications.

KEYWORDS:

• Social media tools
• NPD-speed
• new-product creativity
• TMT diversity

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (71802059, 71672197, 71572204), National Planning Office of Philosophy and Social Sciences of China (21&ZD123), Philosophy and Social Science Foundation of Guangzhou (202235107).

Notes on contributors

Yali Tang

Yali Tang is an assistant professor of Guangzhou Panyu Polytechnic. Hers research areas include social media, blog, and technological innovation.

Heng Liu

Heng Liu is an associate professor in the Sun Yat-sen Business School, Sun Yat-sen University. His research area covers the interface issues between strategy and entrepreneurship.

Liang Wu

Liang Wu is an assistant professor of Center for Cantonese Merchants Research, Guangdong University of Foreign Studies. His research areas include bricolage, effectuation, learning and innovation.