Influencing R&D/marketing integration and the use of market information by R&D managers: Intended and unintended effects of managerial actions

A model is developed relating important organizational and contextual variables to the information processing behaviors of R&D managers. The model is tested on questionnaire data collected from 718 respondents at 256 high-technology organizations. The results indicate inter-functional rivalry severely reduces R&D's use of information supplied by marketing personnel, rivalry lowers the perceived quality of information transferred. Rivalry also increases political pressures to ignore useful information provided by marketing. The study also demonstrates R&D managers use information in two ways. Information may be used to make immediate decisions (instrumental use). It may also be used to change the R&D manager's mental model of the marketplace (conceptual use). Several techniques commonly employed to improve inter-functional relations are studied in the model (e.g., co-locating functions, cross-functional teams, joint customer visits). Most were found to improve information use. However, they affect use through different processes. The integrating mechanisms affect instrumental use indirectly through their effects on rivalry and perceptions of information quality. On the other hand, integrating mechanisms affect conceptual use both directly and indirectly. The impacts of the degree of fluctuation in the organization structure were also tested. Fluctuating structural changes in the organization were found to reduce instrumental use by encouraging rivalry. However, increased change within a firm also appears to enhance conceptual use. Implications of these findings for theory and practice are discussed.