Knowledge creation and new product performance: the role of creativity

This research is concerned with how knowledge creation influences new product performance through creativity, which includes novelty and appropriateness. The following relationships are examined in our proposed model: (1) the influence of knowledge creation on new product performance; (2) the influence of novelty and appropriateness on new product performance; and (3) the influence of knowledge creation on novelty and appropriateness. A questionnaire was designed and mailed to the sampled Taiwanese manufacturing companies. The analysis results show that knowledge creation helps research and development personnel create novel and appropriate products, which in turn increase new product success. New product performance is affected by both novelty and appropriateness, the former of which has a greater influence. Through additional exploratory analyses, in which socialization, externalization, combination, and internalization are antecedents, we show that socialization's effect on new product performance is fully mediated by novelty and appropriateness, but internalization's influence is only partially mediated. Meantime, the influence of externalization on performance is fully mediated by novelty, but not by appropriateness. Combination has a direct influence on new product performance. Finally, this research provides theoretical and managerial implications based on these results.