Innovate or die: How should knowledge-worker teams respond to technological turbulence?

In this research, we view knowledge-worker teams as open systems that are directly affected by changes in the external environment. Drawing on the strategic contingency perspective of power, we propose and demonstrate that in the face of a turbulent technological environment, knowledge-worker teams should engage in two team processes, namely, de-dependence on established team experts and new knowledge acquisition, to achieve high innovation performance. We conducted two field studies to test our hypotheses. Study 1 had a multi-source, multi-wave design involving 109 new product development (NPD) teams in technology-intensive industries. Study 2 had a multi-source, cross-lagged panel design involving 65 NPD teams in the information technology industry. Results based on the two field studies provide considerable support for our central hypotheses, i.e., the two team processes mediate the relationship between team perception of technological turbulence and team innovation performance and team autonomy enhances the two positive mediated relationships. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of our findings on how and when knowledge-worker teams can reap the innovative benefits from environmental technological turbulence.