اثربخشی تیم و بحث باز در مقابله با تعاملات جدید در توسعه محصول: یک مطالعه متقابل ملی  Team effectiveness and open discussion of conflict in collaborative new product development: A cross- national study

1. Introduction Early observations by researchers such as Lewin (1945), Van de Ven (1989), and Weick (1989), who study how groups govern their interrelationships, highlight that understanding governance is complex but critical in determining intergroup outcomes. Woodside (2010) and Eisenhardt (1989) emphasize that more studies are necessary to clarify the paradoxes within intergroup and inter-firm research. Lewin (1945) draws attention to the inherent complexity in studying groups and group processes. The current discussion around the governance of inter-firm relationships calls for research on “how” governance influences outcomes (Cao & Lumineau, 2015; Dyer & Singh, 1998). This study responds to the increase in recent calls to understand the mechanisms through which governance influences new product development outcomes (Lee & Cavusgil, 2006; Zhao, Cavusgil, & Cavusgil, 2014). This study examines whether collaboration team effectiveness is a mechanism through which governance influences NPD outcomes and whether such effectiveness mediates the governance–NPD performance relationship. Previous studies on team effectiveness draw attention to the lack of understanding of conflict in team processes (Benavides-Espinosa & Ribeiro-Soriano, 2014). Thus, this study seeks to contribute by probing the role of open discussion of conflicting issues on team effectiveness and NPD performance, and whether open conflict moderates this relationship. In addition to seeking to understand how these factors mediate and moderate the governance–new product development performance relationships, this study contributes by clarifying the role of institutional environment, by examining these relationships in two different institutional environments, namely South Africa and Britain. The findings demonstrate that institutional environment influences the role of governance in collaboration.