Skip to main content

Study Explores Motivation behind Decision Making in New Product Development Teams

A study by Jonathan Bohlmann, associate professor of marketing at North Carolina State University College of Management, and his colleagues explored that question and found that teams that match or share the same regulatory focus – or source for their motivation – may become impervious to the ‘goal pursuit’ strategies provided to them by management, even to the point that management directives may be ineffective.

A report of their study – “Does This Fit or Match? Regulatory Focus Effects on New Product Team Decision-Making” – earned the researchers a Best Paper Award at the 2008 Product Development and Management Association (PDMA) Research Forum held in Orlando, Fla. this fall. Bohlmann’s fellow researchers on this joint project are Jelena Spanjol, assistant professor of marketing, University of Illinois at Chicago; Leona Tam, assistant professor of marketing, Old Dominion University; and William Qualls, professor of business administration, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

In a multi-period study with repeated decision-making cycles, the researchers found that ‘regulatory match’ effects in teams are stronger than the effects from ‘regulatory fit,’ suggesting that product management teams are strongly influenced in their decisions by shared motivational frames.

In contrast, when individual team members do not share the same motivational frame, such as when they have different regulatory foci and experience regulatory mismatch, directives and goals given by leadership appear to exert greater influence on new product decisions in teams. A more diverse team – in terms of different regulatory foci – may, therefore, be particularly relevant if management is trying to change direction in a project or course of action.

In general, Bohlmann said, managers should carefully consider the regulatory focus of decision teams and their members when giving eager or vigilant directives in pursuing goals. For example, in cases where teams need to be more entrepreneurial, a team matched on a promotion-focus may be more open to innovation and taking risks.

Regulatory focus theory, Bohlmann explains, offers insight into how individual motivational differences, such as a promotion focus versus a prevention focus, influence new product decisions. Regulatory fit theory explores how people respond to goal pursuit strategies, such as performance objectives given by product managers.

Individuals who experience fit between their regulatory focus and their goal pursuit strategy – eager to make gains or vigilant to avoid losses – become more engaged in the decision-making process and experience a ‘feeling right’ effect that results in more positive evaluations of the decision, he said. However, since teams consist of multiple decision-makers who might or might not share the same regulatory focus – creating a match or mismatch – it had been unclear to this point how regulatory fit affects decisions in teams, Bohlmann said.

Media contacts:
Jonathan Bohlmann, associate professor, marketing
Anna Rzewnicki, director of communications