The influence of interfirm codevelopment competency on e‐service innovation

Because of customer demand, rapid product life cycles, and advances in IT, an expanded view of e‐service innovation is needed. Our study used concepts from resource dependence and contingency theories to examine the mediating effects of knowledge and technology integration mechanisms (KIMs and TIMs) on interfirm codevelopment competency and e‐service innovation, as well as investigating the moderating effect of them on partner match. A field survey was conducted in IT departments of financial and information service firms; we found that companies in these industries emphasized interfirm codevelopment competency in developing e‐service innovation but used different types of mechanisms to enhance e‐service innovation, which can be viewed as a practice of embodying partner match in interfirm codevelopment competency. We concluded that IT managers should mobilize interfirm codevelopment competency in conjunction with KIM and TIM to achieve e‐service innovation. Furthermore, selecting compatibility of partners is crucial in enhancing e‐service innovation. We discuss the theoretical and managerial implications of the findings and conclude with comments on limitations in our study.