Nonlinear influence on R&D project performance

This study applies artificial neural network (ANN) to explore the relationships between the performance of R&D projects and its determinants. The results indicate that the quality of project environment has an inverse U-shaped effect on the performance of R&D projects, and both project managers' skills and the effectiveness of teamwork have monotonic positive influences on it. Besides, this study utilizes self-organizing map (SOM) to classify the Taiwanese information and electronics companies into three groups and further provides some suggestions. In addition, this paper uses an in-depth interview of qualitative research to explore why the quality of project environment has an inverse U-shaped effect on the R&D project performance, and finds out the main reason. There are two managerial implications in this study. First, the relationships between the performance of R&D projects and its determinants are not always linear in the complex and uncertain environment nowadays. Second, companies must care about the inverse U-shaped effect of the quality of project environment on the performance of R&D projects, although they can enhance the extent of project managers' skills and the effectiveness of their teamwork as much as possible.

► This study explores the nonlinear influence of the determinants on the performance of R&D projects.
► Quality of project environment has an inverse U-shaped effect on the performance of R&D projects.
► Project managers' skills have a monotonic positive effect on the performance of R&D projects.
► Effectiveness of teamwork has a monotonic positive effect on the performance of R&D projects.