Leveraging social media in new product development: organisational learning processes, mechanisms and evidence from China

Zhan, Yuanzhu, Tan, Kim Hua, Chung, Leanne ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9916-1602, Chen, Lujie and Xing, Xinjie 2020. Leveraging social media in new product development: organisational learning processes, mechanisms and evidence from China. International Journal of Operations and Production Management 40 (5) , pp. 671-695. 10.1108/IJOPM-04-2019-0318

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Abstract

Purpose The main purpose of this paper is to investigate how social media can provide important platforms to facilitate organisational learning and innovation in new product development (NPD) process. Design/methodology/approach Using a multiple case-study approach, this study assesses qualitative data collected via 56 interviews from 13 world-leading Chinese companies in the high-technology industry. Findings The study identified three distinct types of organisational learning mechanisms for firms to extract potential innovation inherent in social media. It further determined various organisational enablers that facilitate the connections between these mechanisms and NPD performance. Research limitations/implications This research contributes to the emerging literature on digital product development and organisational learning. The cases were conducted in the Chinese context, hence, the results may not be fully generalisable to other organisations, industries and countries without appropriate re-contextualisation. Practical implications The empirical evidence showcases the various mechanisms adopted by managers in different NPD phases. It identifies several technological and organisational adaptations that managers can apply to smartly scale their social presence and facilitate NPD. Originality/value Despite the exponential growth of social media use in identifying and interacting with external stakeholders, managerial practice and academic research have paid little attention to how social media can be leveraged for NPD. The value of this research comes from applying a qualitative method to gain in-depth insights into the mechanisms for leveraging social media to facilitate innovation in NPD.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Business (Including Economics)
Publisher:	Emerald
ISSN:	0144-3577
Date of Acceptance:	13 June 2020
Last Modified:	09 Nov 2022 09:57
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/137694

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