Examining the Effects of Design, Technology, and Service Innovation on New Product Performance: The Mediating Roles of Marketing and Process Innovation

The importance of product design has been getting attention in the past decade from scholars and practitioners. Design plays a critical role in firms’ product development and business strategies. In recent years, scholars began to see design innovation as another vital innovation element of a new product. A new product could encompass at least two innovation elements: technology innovation and design innovation. While technology points to the function of a product, design points to the form of a product. Despite the advocacy of scholarly examination of design innovation, there are few empirical studies of design innovation. This study examines the effect of design innovation (as well as technology and service innovation) on new product performance. Additionally, this study examines the roles of marketing innovation and process innovation in mediating the relationships between these innovation activities and new product performance. Regarding the findings from this study, it shows that design, technology, and service innovation (which, argued by this study, are the three main innovation elements of a new product) all contribute to new product performance. Additionally, marketing innovation and process innovation are found to mediate the relationship between these innovation elements and performance.