Complementary role of organizational learning capability in new service development (NSD) process

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the role of organizational learning capability in relation to leadership tasks performed by executives and organizational performance by bridging the concepts of organizational learning and NSD. Design/methodology/approach – The NSD processes of seven telecom service providers in Thailand are adopted as the research context. Conceptual framework is developed based on literatures and expert interviews. Multi‐item questionnaires are designed mostly based on interviews with 12 experts involving in NSD processes of those seven providers. Survey is conducted with 497 executives and employees in NSD processes of those providers. The structural equation modeling and LISREL 8.72 application are employed in data analyses. Findings – Leadership tasks performed by NSD executives significantly affect the development of organizational learning capability, which in turn significantly affects organizational performance. The effectiveness of executives' leadership tasks and organizational learning capability development are symbiotic. Research limitations/implications – The validation and generalization of the results are still limited to the context of NSD processes of telecom service providers in Thailand. The analyses based on second‐order factors and perceptual data. Practical implications – In today's context, NSD process should be managed as the dynamic learning process. The integration of executives plays a key role in facilitating the development of organizational learning capability in such a process. Originality/value – The integrative framework of collective and collaborative leadership tasks, organizational learning capability, and organizational performance are tested empirically and discussed based on real practices. The complementary role of organizational learning capability is introduced.