Antecedents and Consequences of Reflexivity in New Product Idea Screening

Abstract

Pre-development activities, such as new product idea screening, are considered to play an important role in innovation success. At the screening stage, a management team evaluates new product and service ideas and makes a first go/no-go decision under high levels of uncertainty and ambiguity. The present study proposes and tests a model of team-level antecedents and consequences of reflexivity - the explicit evaluation and discussion of working methods, tools, and criteria within a team - in the context of new product idea screening decision-making. Results of a survey among 126 top managers from large international firms suggest how screening teams can improve their decisionmaking: positive effects of transformational leadership and procedural rationality on the effectiveness and efficiency of screening decision-making are largely mediated by reflexivity at the team level. The article concludes with limitations of the study, suggestions for further research and managerial implications.