Author:

Keywords:

Data, Independence, Industrial research, Management styles, Researchers, Studies, Variance analysis, Choice, Variables, Social Sciences, Business, Business & Economics

Abstract:

A study examines the autonomy and the persistence of industrial researchers in the choice and the pursuit of their research agenda. Using empirical data on 288 industrial researchers, the study investigates the influence of various co-variates on the degrees of strategic and operational autonomy experienced by the study participants. Going beyond age and task type as explanatory variables, both education and specialization exert a significant influence on the levels of autonomy attained by R&D professionals. These findings highlight the problematic nature of the autonomy in industrial R&D