New Product Knowledge Sharing: Antecedents, the Moderating Role of OCB, and the Consequence of NPD Performance

Using an exploratory conceptual framework, this study examines the effect of six antecedents of organizational action variables that are derived from three basic building blocks of new product knowledge creation – top management’s capabilities, organizational infrastructure, and human resources practices – on new product knowledge sharing and NPD performance. We also examine the moderating role of OCB. Using data collected from 266 NPD participants in high-tech industries, the empirical results indicate that self-organizing teams and information redundancy are positively associated with new product knowledge sharing, creative chaos is negatively associated with knowledge sharing, and the conceptual skills of top management, internal competition, and strategic rotation have no effect on new product knowledge sharing. It is interesting that the negative relationship between creative chaos and knowledge sharing is weakened by the moderating effect of OCB that is exhibited by NPD members. Moreover, OCB mitigates the positive effects of both self-organizing teams and information redundancy on new product knowledge sharing. Finally, new product knowledge sharing mediates the effects of organizational actions on NPD performance.