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Boundary Role Spanning Behavior, Conflicts and Performance of Industrial Product Managers
Author(s) -
Lysonski Steven,
Woodside Arch G.
Publication year - 1989
Publication title -
journal of product innovation management
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.646
H-Index - 144
eISSN - 1540-5885
pISSN - 0737-6782
DOI - 10.1111/1540-5885.630169
Subject(s) - product (mathematics) , boundary spanning , ambiguity , business , marketing , path analysis (statistics) , industrial organization , structural equation modeling , boundary (topology) , new product development , key (lock) , operations management , economics , computer science , knowledge management , mathematics , mathematical analysis , geometry , computer security , machine learning , programming language
While researchers have probed predictors of product managers' performance in consumer goods firms, few have looked at the performance of the industrial product manager. In this article, Steven Lysonski and Arch Woodside use path analysis to examine causal models of industrial product managers' performance during periods of rapid technological change. Key variables are analyzed, including the effects of environmental uncertainty, boundary spanning behavior, role pressures, role outcomes and two performance measures. A total of 69 industrial product managers from New Zealand Telecom completed a questionnaire that included both operational measures of the key variables and their overall job performance. The results suggest that most of the hypothesized relationships are supportable empirically. Performance was hindered by environmental uncertainty, role conflict, role ambiguity, tension and dissatisfaction. The authors discuss their study's implications for improving the effectiveness of product management practices.