The impact of trust on the relationship between inter-organisational collaboration and product innovation performance

Abstract

Product innovation performance is an important indicator for evaluating a firm's research and development. This study is different from past research in that the relationship between supplier, customer and third party is taken into account. It explores the impact of the three different partners’ involvement, with the purpose of understanding the influence that suppliers, customers and third parties have on both design and market performance, as well as the moderating effect that trust has on inter-organisation collaborative relationships and product innovation performance. This study then uses a questionnaire survey to investigate the Taiwan manufacturing industry. The results reveal that greater supplier involvement only serves to strengthen design performance, while customer and third party involvement simultaneously increases design performance and market performance. Moreover, when the dyadic trust level is high, the greater the involvement of third parties, and the better the design performance.

Keywords:

• product innovation performance
• trust
• external organisation involvement
• new product development