Online Channel Usage and Product Innovation? The Moderating Effects of Inter-Organization Interactions

Abstract

With the development of internet, the use of online channels has become a hot issue in manufacturing industry. However, there are hardly any researches have studied the relationship between the innovation of manufacturing enterprises and their use of online channels. This study conducts a hierarchical regression on the basis of 116 answer sheets answered by different employees working in different manufacturing enterprises as research objects, and analysis. T he results suggest that the online channel usage of a manufacturing enterprise will have a positive effect on its practice of incremental innovation and the interaction between the company of its customers will be a partial mediator. The results also indicate that the online channel usage of a manufacturing enterprise will have a positive effect on its practice of radical innovation and the interaction between the company of its customers will be a partial mediator.