A configurational approach to new product development performance: The role of open innovation, digital transformation and absorptive capacity

Globalization, digital acceleration, and market shocks have all revealed the importance of new product development in enabling companies to remain competitive. Focusing on digitally mature companies, we look into the different routes that organizations can take to accomplish this goal, involving a mix of inbound/outbound open innovation, digital transformation, and absorptive capabilities in the path towards higher levels of new product development performance. By employing structural equation modeling and fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis, four different organizational pathways emerge. A detailed analysis of these pathways provides further insights for scholars and practitioners, enhancing our understanding of the active role of open innovation, digital transformation, and absorptive capacity in new product development performance.