Factors Influencing Information Technology Usage for New Product Development: The Case of Japanese Companies à Tomoko Kawakami, Serdar S. Durmu¸sog˘lu, and Gloria Barczak Although information technology (IT) tools for new product development (NPD) are widely available, prior studies have found the usage of IT to be limited to large-sized firms (cf. Barczak and Sultan, 2006), but increasing (Cooper, 2007). Extant research indicates that several factors influence IT usage, including the existence of a champion and NPD process formalization (Barczak, Sultan, and Hultink, 2007; Barczak, Hultink, and Sultan, 2008). In addition, the antecedents to IT usage have been found to vary among countries (Barczak, Hultink, and Sultan, 2008); that is, they are context-specific. This study extends prior research by exploring the factors that facilitate and/or inhibit IT usage for NPD in Japanese firms. Japan was chosen for this study because it has been argued that, in order to develop generalized NPD theories applicable across different nations or cultures, further understanding is needed about countries other than North American and Western European countries (Song and Parry, 1996; Song, Kawakami, and Stringfellow, 2010). Additionally, the culture of Japan is known for being very different from North America and other Western countries, particularly in terms of Japan’s relative emphasis on the collective as opposed to the individual; high in uncertainty avoidance as opposed to low uncertainty avoidance; and long-term orientation rather than short-term orientation (Hofstede, 2005; Kawakami, Maclachlan, and Stringfellow, forthcoming). The lack of research in Japan on IT and NPD implied the need for an exploratory, grounded theory approach to this study. Using a multiple case study method, the authors conducted semi-structured interviews with 35 marketing, R&D, and IT managers and executives in 19 firms in a variety of industries. Based on the analysis of the interview data and the follow-up surveys, the authors propose that ten factors in five categories, namely, strategic factors, market environment factors, development process factors, organizational factors, and technology-human interaction factors, are likely to influence IT usage for NPD in Japanese companies. Specifically, product innovativeness, extent of global engagement, formalized IT ROI measure, standardization of NPD activities, physical proximity, resistance to change, CIO as an executive sponsor, sensory requirements, per- ceived ease of use, and perceived usefulness are expected to influence IT usage. From a theoretical perspective, this study extends prior research on IT usage by expanding the cultural context beyond North America and Western Europe by focusing on an Asian country, namely Japan. It also adds to the limited research that integrates national culture and NPD and enables the development of a conceptual model that could be tested empirically. Introduction O ne way to potentially improve new product development (NPD) outcomes is to utilize information technology (IT) tools (Nambi- san, 2003). In fact, many senior executives believe that IT enables innovation (O’Mahony, Padmore, and Suh, 2003) and companies are increasingly using IT to support and enhance their NPD process (Cooper, 2007), even for their open innovation practices (Dodgson, Gann, and Salter, 2006). Correspondingly, there is a growing stream of empirical research about the role and usage of IT in NPD (cf. Durmu¸sog˘lu, Calantone, and Sambamurthy, 2006; Barczak, Sultan, and Hultink, 2007; Barczak, Hultink and Sultan, 2008; Durmu¸sog˘lu and Barczak, 2011). An examination of this emerging research stream reveals several gaps. First, little empirical research has been undertaken that explores the use of IT in the NPD process. Therefore, it is necessary to identify the à The authors acknowledges financial support by MEXT KA- KENHI Grant-in-aid for Grant-in-Aid for challenging Exploratory Research (Year 2009–2011, Grant No. 21653032) of the Japan Minis- try of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology and Stra- tegic Project to Support the Formation of Research Bases at Private Universities Matching Fund Subsidy from MEXT (Year 2008–2012). Address correspondence to: Tomoko Kawakami, Professor of Innovation Management, Faculty of Commerce, Kansai University, 3- 3-35 Yamate-cho, Suita-shi, Osaka 564-8680, Japan. E-mail: ktomoko @kansai-u.ac.jp. Tel: (06)6368-1147. Fax: (06)6339-7704. J PROD INNOV MANAG 2011;28:833–847 r 2011 Product Development & Management Association