Unraveling the Factors Influencing Team Learning in New Product Development: Lessons from Failure and Success

In the context of new product development (NPD) projects, this research investigates the determinants of team learning and offers a comparative examination of high-performing and low-performing projects through the lens of fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA). By incorporating insights from the organizational and team learning literature, the study examines the influence of project characteristics (complexity and uncertainty), team interpersonal characteristics (innovation norms, cohesion, and decision-making autonomy), and environmental factors (technological and market turbulence) on team learning. The analysis covers a diverse sample of NPD projects with varying outcomes to pinpoint distinct combinations of factors that facilitate team learning. The findings reveal three factor configurations related to team learning in high-performing projects and four configurations for low-performing projects. In successful projects, interpersonal team characteristics substantially impact NPD team learning, while project complexity, uncertainty, technological, and market turbulence demonstrate a more prominent influence in failed projects. These results emphasize the importance of different factors in determining NPD team learning based on project outcomes. The study thus advances the current understanding of team learning in NPD projects and offers valuable insights for managers and practitioners developing strategies to enhance team learning through agile approaches.