Information technology as knowledge management enabler in product development : Empirical evidence

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to focus on one of the most recognized knowledge management enablers, information technology (IT), and explores how IT influences on knowledge base capabilities in product development – specifically knowledge exploitation and exploration. Design/methodology/approach – The proposed hypotheses are empirically tested through the analysis of 80 product developments, and valid and reliable measures for each variable are developed. The research methodology uses a two‐step approach. Findings – The study shows that product development processes can be categorized within three IT configurations: balanced IT configuration, convergent‐based IT configuration and divergent‐based IT configuration. These results show that differences in IT configurations in product development may lead to differences in terms of knowledge exploitation and show the advantages of the balanced IT configuration that combines both dimensions of IT. Research limitations/implications – The sample size is not large and the scope of this study is limited to firms located in the Madrid area, Spain. The measurement effort represents an advance for research but, nonetheless, they measure facts that are neither fully nor easily measurable. All data were collected from the same respondent, using the same perceptual measurement technique. Practical implications – This paper suggests that product development managers would be advised to consider knowledge based goals when selecting their IT tools. It also highlights that product development efforts should not involve an excluding trade‐off between the convergent and the divergent dimensions of IT (whereby one is at the expense of the other), but a balance of both dimensions. Originality/value – The paper differs from previous research in a number of important ways. First, it focuses on benefits to product development. Second, it measures the impact of IT on knowledge base capabilities. Third, it focuses on the configuration of IT and an evaluation of how different configurations impact on different types of knowledge based capabilities.