Prior Knowledge and New Product and Service Introductions by Entrepreneurial Firms: The Mediating Role of Technological Innovation

Most research on new product and service development by entrepreneurial firms takes an individual‐level, prelaunch perspective or firm‐level postlaunch perspective. Our study examines two components of the new product and service introduction process: how entrepreneurs' prior knowledge underpins (1) firm technological innovation prior to the introduction of new products and services (prelaunch) and (2) postlaunch viability of those new products and services. Our findings, based on a series of analyses of data from 158 entrepreneurial firms, show that formal technological innovation fully mediates the relation between prior knowledge and the introduction of viable new products and services.