Knowledge Sharing in Management Processes: Impact on Innovation Project Management and Innovation Performance

It is generally accepted that the capacity of an organization to innovate lies in its capacity to generate new knowledge (Nonaka and Takeuchi, 1995; Nonaka, Toyama and Byosiere, 2003). For this to be possible, knowledge sharing is considered a necessary condition (Nonaka and Takeuchi, 1995; Nonaka, von Krogh and Voelpel, 2006). Actually, innovation is a "dynamic capability" with several dimensions (Teece, 2007, 2009). The first one is the capacity to sense and shape opportunities and threats (i.e. the ideation stage of innovation processes). The second one refers to the selection of the new ideas to be addressed and to their subsequent development and fulfilment (i.e. innovation project management). The last one is the capacity the company has to reinvent/transform itself and not die because of unfavourable path dependencies generated by past success. In this paper the focus will be on the second dimension (i.e. on innovation project management). In particular, the influence of knowledge sharing that takes place through the company's management processes on the development of innovation projects will be analyzed, as well as the impact of the latter on innovation success. Moreover, the influence of different elements of the management context (organizational design, organizational culture and information and communication technology - ICT - infrastructure) on knowledge sharing will be examined. Finally, considering the degree of technology intensity as an important contingent variable in terms of organizational conditions (Mintzberg, 1979), the moderator role of this variable will also be examined. The population subject to study is made up of Spanish manufacturing firms with over 50 employees and with R&D activities. A questionnaire was designed and submitted to the CEOs of the companies making up the target population. A sample of 142 respondents was obtained and Structural Equation Modeling based on Partial Least Squares (PLS) has been applied to test the hypotheses formulated. The results obtained show that the characteristics of the management context (i.e. organizational design, organizational culture and ICT infrastructure) exert a significant influence on the knowledge sharing that takes place through the company's management processes, and that the latter exerts a significant impact when it comes to guaranteeing successful project management and good innovation results. As far as technology intensity is concerned, there is just one relationship that is moderated by this variable: the one that connects innovation project management with innovation outcomes. Good performance in the former proves to be a much more relevant issue for achieving successful innovation in medium-high and high technology firms than in medium-low and low technology firms.