R&D Team Diversity and Performance in Hypercompetitive Environments

Karin Hoisl, Marc Gruber, Annamaria Conti

    Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articleResearchpeer-review

    Abstract

    This article examines the effects of an R&D team's composition on its performance outcomes in hypercompetition. The fundamental feature of firms in hypercompetitive settings is that they are constantly challenged to improve their competitiveness in a relentless race to outperform one another. Analyzing a unique data set from the Formula 1 motorsport racing industry, we find an inverse U-shaped relationship between team diversity in task-related experience and performance an important result that diverges from well-established theories developed in more stable environments. Fundamentally, we show that the role of R&D team experience diversity varies depending on the size of the organizations in which R&D teams operate. While we find a moderating effect for firm age, this effect is not as robust as that of firm size.
    Original languageEnglish
    JournalStrategic Management Journal
    Volume38
    Issue number7
    Pages (from-to)1455-1477
    Number of pages23
    ISSN0143-2095
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - Jul 2017

    Keywords

    • Innovation
    • Hypercompetition
    • R&D
    • Teams
    • Experience diversity

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