[en] A number of studies have found that the performance of NPD projects greatly
depends on the support they get from top management. However, research
into why some projects get more support than others has been limited. The
present paper takes a political approach to NPD, in which top management
support is considered to be a function of a project leader’s ability to influence
decision processes through personal relationships. Mobilizing the bridging perspective
of social capital, we argue that project leaders need both strong ties to
high-ranking others and sparseness in their networks. Vertical strong ties bring
direct support and solidarity, resulting in improved access to resources and
priority over other projects; sparseness provides exposure to the full range of
information and interpretations in the organization, resulting in a more accurate
picture of the political landscape and thus enabling the implementation of an
appropriate influence strategy. A PLS analysis of a sample of 73 French project
leaders involved in NPD projects provided support for our hypotheses. Hence,
we contribute to a very recent stream of research showing that the structural
and relational dimensions of social capital are complementary.
Disciplines :
Stratégie & innovation
Auteur, co-auteur :
Chollet, Barthelemy
Brion, Sébastien
Chauvet, Vincent
Mothe, Caroline
GERAUDEL, Mickaël ; University of Luxembourg > Faculty of Law, Economics and Finance (FDEF) > Center for Research in Economic Analysis (CREA)
Co-auteurs externes :
yes
Langue du document :
Anglais
Titre :
NPD Projects in Search of Top Management Support: The Role of Team Leaders' Social Capital
Date de publication/diffusion :
2012
Titre du périodique :
M@n@gement
eISSN :
1286-4692
Maison d'édition :
Association Internationale de Management Stratégique (AIMS)
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