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Influence of Complexity, Innovation, Newness and Learning on Project Success in New Development Projects: A Study in Manufacturing Industry


 In the execution of product development projects, deviation in time, budget and quality must be avoided. The expectations on these outcomes are high, especially in commodity-type projects, where most of the project content is assumed known upfront. On the other hand, increasingly complex project environments face constantly changes, where shift in scope is more the rule than the exception. In this study, we cluster factors assumed pushing the project boundaries of exploration in terms of innovation, complexity and newness. We pose an initial hypothesis that dealing with unplanned changes, or ‘newness’, has an overall negative outcome on project outcomes, despite the underlying intentions. It is also hypothesized that learning capabilities of the product development team is a major factor for successfully dealing with the dynamics of newness. To test both hypothesizes, we first developed and executed a survey involving 10 manufacturing companies. The participants were asked to rate 25 statements related to innovation, complexity and newness, and their perceived impact on overall project success. The results show a clearly negative correlation between successful projects and newness. To test the second hypothesis, the single statements for ‘newness’ was divided into positive and negative learning. The term ‘negative learning’ is used when stress occurs and therefore knowledge and abilities are not properly developed. Positive learning describes on the other hand if motivation is high and active learning occurs. The results show that newness statements related to positive learning has a positive impact on project outcomes, whereas negative learning has a negative impact on project success.