Linking cross-functional collaboration, innovation performance, and competitive intensity: towards a mediated moderation perspective

Abstract

The relationship between cross-functional collaboration and innovation performance has been documented in the innovation literature; however, the role of competitive intensity in this relationship has been scarcely investigated so far. This study develops a contingency framework to investigate how competitive intensity affects the effect of cross-functional collaboration on product innovation performance and further to examine how the moderating role of competitive intensity in the cross-functional collaboration-performance relationship is mediated by knowledge integration mechanisms. A survey of 182 Taiwanese manufacturing firms provides the data for the analysis. The results from moderation and mediation regression analyses show that (1) competitive intensity weakens the effect of cross-functional collaboration on product innovation performance; and (2) the negative effect of competitive intensity on the cross-functional collaboration-product innovation performance relationship is explained by knowledge integration mechanisms. These findings not only demonstrate the contingency role of competitive intensity but also qualify it by the mediating role of knowledge integration mechanisms in the relationship between cross-functional collaboration and product innovation performance.

Keywords:

• cross-functional collaboration
• product innovation
• new product development
• competitive intensity
• knowledge integration mechanisms

Acknowledgements

We would like to express our sincere appreciation to the anonymous reviewers and editor-in-chief, Professor Kong-Rae Lee.