Managerial trust and NPD team performance: team commitment and longevity as mediators

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the mediating effects of team commitment and longevity between managerial trust and team performance (e.g. team learning and product success), using environmental turbulence as a moderator. Design/methodology/approach – To test the proposed model, data were collected from 335 team members and team leaders of 107 Turkish new product/project development teams. Findings – The results of the structural equation model showed that managerial trust (as rated by team members) was significantly associated with team commitment and longevity; and team commitment and longevity significantly mediated the relationships between managerial trust and team learning, and managerial trust and product success. Moreover, the findings showed that the impact of managerial trust on team commitment and longevity was higher when environmental turbulence was high. However, the mediating impact of team commitment was significant regardless of market or technical turbulence; and team longevity had a significant mediating impact if environment was turbulent. Theoretical and managerial implications of the study findings were discussed at the end. Originality/value – The novelty of the research lies in the empirical test of managerial trust in the context of teams with innovation projects (e.g. product development teams). Furthermore, the inclusion of team commitment and longevity as moderators represents an added value of the study.