최근 국내기업들은 창조적 경영에 많은 관심을 가지기 시작했다. 빠른 추종자 전략으로 성장해온 많은 국내기업들이 선진 국과 후발국사이에서 더 이상 비용효율화만으로는 지속적인 성장을 도모할 수 없게 되었기 때문이다. 특히 제조업체들에 게 있어서는 제품개발의 창조성이 무엇보다 중요한 경영과제가 되고 있다. 그러나 제품개발의 창조성에 관한 연구는 아직 그리 많지 않아 기업이 실무적으로 적용하기에는 한계가 있는 것이 사실이다. 본 연구의 목적은 첫째, 기술지향성이 제품의 새로움과 의미성으로 구성된 제품창조성에 미치는 영향과 나아가 기업의 성 과에 어떠한 영향을 미치는지를 규명하고 둘째, 환경요인이 제품창조성과 성과간의 사이에 미치는 영향을 밝히는데 있다. 구조방정식을 이용한 분석결과, 기술지향성이 제품의 새로움과 의미성인 제품창조성을 증대시켜 궁극적으로 기업의 성과 를 향상시킨다는 가설들이 지지되었다. 계층적 회귀분석결과, 시장변화, 경쟁심화, 기술급변의 환경요인이 제품 의미성과 성과간의 사이에서 조절적 영향을 미치는 것으로 나타났다. 이러한 연구결과는 다음과 같은 실무적 시사점을 가진다. 첫째, 기업은 제품의 창조성과 이를 통한 경영성과 증대를 위한 유용한 전략으로 기술지향성을 선택할 수 있음을 시사한다. 둘째, 시장변화, 경쟁심화, 기술급변이라는 환경요인의 변화 가 심할수록 제품 새로움보다는 제품 의미성에 투자를 집중해야 한다는 것을 제시하고 있다. 특히 고객의 선호도가 급변 하는 시장 환경에서는 고객의 변화된 욕구에 대한 규명이 어렵기 때문에 제품 새로움에 대한 투자는 오히려 자원낭비의 가능성이 커질 수 있다. 따라서 제품 새로움보다는 제품 의미성에 대한 투자가 경영성과 증대에 더욱 효과적일 수 있다는 것을 시사한다.
In recent years, many domestic firms have started showing interests in creative management. That’s because the firms have realized that the fast following strategy with emphasizing cost reductions may not be valid for success anymore. Particularly, product creativity have become one of the most important issues to the domestic manufacturing firms. However, few studies on product creativity have been published so far. Hence, the firms are experiencing somewhat difficulty in enhancing product creativity and, thereby, performance. Thus, the objectives of this study are two-fold as follows. First, the present study examines the effects of technology orientation on product creativity and performance. Past studies on technology orientation have mainly focused on the effects on product innovation and its direct relationship with performance. However, the theoretical background on the effects of technology orientation on product creativity exists in the literature. Furthermore, product creativity is a more concrete construct than product innovation. Hence, the construct of product creativity rather than product innovation would be more useful for firms in setting the direction of product development and evaluating its progression. Second, the present study examines the effects of competitive environments on the relationship between product creativity and performance. Product development is considered as a response to changing environments. Hence, environmental forces are considered as important factors which would affect firm’s performance in the market. However, the impacts of competitive environments on the relationship between product creativity and performance have not been studied yet. Thus, the study would be managerially very useful for dealing with changing environmental forces. Using structural equation modeling, the hypotheses that technology orientation positively affects product creativity and performance were supported. Using hierarchical regression analysis, the moderating effects of the competitive environments were partially supported. The results of this study have useful managerial implications, especially to firms with heavy investments in technological advancement. First, technology orientation would be a valid option for pursuing product creativity and, thereby, performance. Second, when the competitive environments are highly unstable, firms need to concentrate more on product meaningfulness than newness. Particularly under high demand uncertainty, since it is hard to identify customers’ preferences, investment in product newness could be wasteful. In such situation, it would be more effective to concentrate on product meaningfulness. The findings of this study provide two important practical contributions to the product creativity. First, the present study examined the effect of technology orientation on product meaningfulness. Second, by evaluating the moderating effects of the competitive environments on the relationship between product creativity and performance, the present study identified useful strategies under specific environmental forces. Although the present study makes various theoretical and managerial contributions, it has the following limitations. First, the present study includes technology only without considering market orientation and entrepreneurship. Hence, it would be valuable to incorporate those strategic orientations into future studies. Second, this study collected data from executives and senior managers of manufacturing firms, not from customers. Even though the firms may think their products are creative, it is possible that customers may not think so. Thus, in future studies, different research designs may be needed. Third, this study considers manufacturing firms only. Hence, the results of the present study may not be relevant to service firms and so, similar or modified research designs may be required.