The role of cultural distance in the dynamics and performance of global new product development teams

Through surveys among the leaders of 119 global new product teams from China and the US, this study empirically tested a framework of cultural distance's impact upon the dynamics and performance of global new product development teams. Results from the study indicated that overall, cultural distance did not play any significant role in the process and outcome of the new product development endeavor. Yet, team members' familiarity with each other's culture had positive impact on product performance by reducing conflict, enhancing social integration and task collaboration, and boosting the teams' innovativeness.; The study found a positive relationship between team innovativeness and product performance. Meanwhile, while task collaboration had positive relationships with team innovativeness and product performance, no direct or indirect relationship was found between task interaction and innovativeness or performance. Moreover, task collaboration mediated the relationship between relationship conflict and new product performance.; Results also suggested that relationship and task conflict did not have the same impact on the process and outcome of the new product development process. First, while task conflict had a significant convex relationship with new product performance, relationship conflict had a significant negative indirect relationship with performance via team task collaboration and a marginally significant indirect relationship with team innovativeness through social integration. Second, task conflict had no relationship with task interaction, task collaboration, or social integration. Relationship conflict, however, had a marginally significant negative relationship with task collaboration, a significant but positive relationship with task interaction, and a significant negative relationship with social integration. Third, while task conflict had significant negative direct and indirect relationships with team innovativeness, relationship conflict had a marginally significant indirect negative relationship with team innovativeness via social integration. Social integration enhanced product performance through facilitating task collaboration and team innovativeness. It also mediated the relationship between cultural familiarity and team innovativeness and between relationship conflict and team innovativeness.