Mediating Role of Cross-Functional Integration between Organizational Structure and New Product Development Process

Abstract

Product development has acquired a great deal of consideration and remains a vital factor in improving process of execution. Product development is essential, since new products become the core of competition for many companies. Substantial amount of research has been done on contribution of organizational structure towards new product development however the relationship between two has rarely been discussed in context of execution process. The purpose of the study is to explore the effect of organizational structure on new product development process. The study also determines the mediating role of cross functional integration between organizational structure (organic and mechanical) and new product development process. The cross-sectional data of 247 managers and team members is collected from Telecommunication industry of Rawalpindi and Islamabad. Both exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were used to analyze interrelationships among the variables. Simple Regression Analysis and correlation were employed to test research hypotheses and the model. The results indicated that organic organization has a positive impact on new product development and cross functional integration plays a mediating role between them. It was also established that cross functional integration has a partial mediating affect between mechanical structure and new product development.