Front end of innovation of high technology industries: The moderating effect of front-end fuzziness

Effectively managing the front end of innovation (FEI) has become an essential element in the successful development of innovative products, thereby enhancing the sustainable competitive advantage of high-tech industry. In spite of researchers and practitioners' realization of the importance of FEI, owing to front-end fuzziness, it is not so easy to manage serious weaknesses in FEI. This study, in order to achieve improved FEI performance, creates a holistic FEI view and explores the impact of front-end fuzziness on situation factors, based on contingency theory. This study tested the hypotheses, using data collected from a survey of Taiwanese high-tech firms. The results support the hypothesis by showing that strategic goal, proficient procedure, and innovative culture relate positively in contributing to FEI performance, and, the moderating impact of front-end fuzziness on the relationship between dedicated team and FEI performance, as well as between proficient procedure and FEI performance, particularly in regard to technology fuzziness and competitor fuzziness. This pattern of results suggests that high-tech firms should emphasize FEI management under different fuzziness situations to foster continuous FEI performance improvement.