기술혁신과정의 역할분화에 대한 상황 모델

Innovation is not just a technological but a socio-political process of contested change. This multifaceted nature of innovation requires diverse roles that key people play in the innovation process. Existing studies (Rothwell, 1974; Maidique, 1980; Chakrabarti & Hauschildt, 1989; Hauschildt & Kirchman, 2001) found many critical roles for the successful implementation of innovation projects such as technical champion, project champion, executive champion (or sponsor) and chief executive. As a means of encouraging the internal entrepreneurial efforts, the existence of certain roles and the impact of key people on the success of innovation projects have been examined by many researchers in advanced countries (Chakrabarti, 1974: Roberts and Fusfeld, 1981; Markham 1998; Hauschildt & Kirchman, 2001). Nevertheless, most studies have been descriptive in nature to focus on identifying critical roles in the innovation process, and only a few studies have empirically examined the relationship between innovation performance and the specialization of role structures in the process. To fill this gap, this study offers a contingent framework for the analysis of determinants and outcomes of role differentiation in the new product development (NPD) process. This study delineates the following hypotheses, based on the review of existing literature: 1) the organization complexity is positively associated with the specialization of role structure; 2) the project complexity is positively associated with the specialization of role structure; 3) the role specialization in the innovation process is positively associated with project performance; 4) the fit between organization complexity and role specialization is positively associated with project performance, and 5) the fit between project complexity and role specialization is positively associated with project performance. The organization complexity can be conceptualized both in terms of how differentiated the structure is and how numerous are the tasks that refer to different kinds of operations and activities. In this study, it is measured by a composite index of size (sales volume and the number of employees) and the level of diversification of the firm. The project complexity refers to the variety or diversity of a task (Baccarini, 1996), such as the number of different disciplines or departments involved in the project as well as intricacy of the design itself (Larson and Gobeli, 1989), which is measured by a composite index of product radicalness and budget size of the project. The role specialization is defined as the number of separate people who play such critical roles as technical champion, project champion, executive champion, and chief executive in the innovation process. The project performance can be defined in terms of process and output performances of NPD projects. Process performance includes market and technological intelligence, organizational support, and resource supply, while the outcome performance is measured in terms of technical and commercial performances, using the instrument developed by Song and Parry (1997) and Markham (1998). The fit between organization complexity (or project complexity) and the role specialization is measured by an absolute difference between the values for organization (or project) complexity and role specialization, following Keller (1994)’s approach. To minimize these scaling differences, the scores were standardized before difference scores were computed. The two fit measures were reverse-scored so that higher value could reflect higher fit. All the variables measured by multi-item scales are found to be reliable (All Cronbach’s Alpha coefficients exceed 0.7), and inter-rater agreement of each variable is also quite satisfactory (rwg(J) of variables ranges from 0.88 to 0.96). This study sampled 91 NPD projects from 37 Korean companies in various industries such as electronics/telecommunication, machinery, and chemical industries. Data were gathered by in-depth interviews with each project leader (n=91) as well as questionnaire survey to various informants (n=207) who were involved in these projects. Average respondents for each project are 3.3, and their average age and tenure are 37.3 and 11.1 years, respectively. More than 60% of them are post-graduates. The average participants of NPD projects are 16.5 and their average duration is 31 months. Less than one quarter of NPD projects are classified to minor improvement of existing products by respondents. 13 projects (14.3%) were collected from small firms (the number of employees is less than 100), another 13 were from medium firms (between 100 to 2,500 employees), and remaining 65 projects (71.4%) were sampled from large firms (more than 2,500 employees). Based on data from 91 NPD projects in Korea, the results of hierarchical regression analyses revealed that 1) organization complexity had a positive relationship with the role specialization of the innovation process; 2) project complexity was not associated with the role specialization; 3) Role specialization was positively correlated with technical performance and three indicators of process performance such as market intelligence, resource supply and organizational support. However, technical intelligence and commercial performance were not correlated with role specialization; 4) the fit between organization complexity and role specialization was positively associated with market intelligence, resource supply, and technical performance. Yet it had no significant relationship with commercial performance. technical intelligence, and organizational support, and; 5) none of performance indicators had a significant relationship with the fit between project complexity and the role specialization. The results found in this study offer several theoretical and managerial implications. First, role specialization is more influenced by organization complexity than by project complexity. The essence of role specialization in the innovation process is the emergence of project champion and executive champion, in addition to technical champion and chief executive, which are found in most innovation projects. As the firm grows larger and diversified, project champion and executive champion who identify and support promising innovation ideas in the organization are more likely to be emerged. Second, the role specialization in the innovation process is quite helpful to get more market and technical information, more moral support and legitimacy of the organization for the project, and thus for acquisition of more tangible and intangible resources required for successful implementation of the innovation project. As a result, the role specialization leads to higher performances of innovation projects. Third, not just the role specialization in the innovation process, but the fit between role specialization and organization complexity have a positive impact on market intelligence, resource supply. and technical performance. When the organization becomes complex, diverse specialized roles are needed for the successful implementation of innovation projects. Finally, this study extends the current knowledge on role specialization in the innovation process by generalizing their importance in innovation projects to a newly industrializing context, Korea, and further sheds light on the contingent relationship between organization complexity and role specialization in the innovation process, and its impact on project performances.