Career orientations, perceptions of rewarded activity and career strategies among R&D professionals

The role of technological innovation, and therefore R&D, in creating and sustaining competitive advantage has focused research attention on the career management of R&D professionals and the strategies used to realize their career aspirations. Data obtained through structured questionnaires from R&D professionals (N = 165) in the electronics industry in Singapore were used to examine career orientation and perception of rewarded activity as determinants of career strategy. It was found that respondents with a managerial career orientation and those with a professional/scientific orientation equally used the general career strategies of network and extensive involvement in work. However, the managerially oriented respondents more actively used the organization-directed strategies of self-nomination/presentation and seeking career guidance than those with a professional/scientific orientation. Furthermore, both orientation groups perceived technical competence and personality characteristics as rewarded activity while the managerially oriented respondents perceived organizational circumtances and visibility and gaining recognition as rewarded activity. The observed similarities and differences in the perception of rewarded activity between the two career orientation groups were found to be related to the similarities and differences in the use of the general and organization-directed career strategies. Implications of the findings along with directions for future research are discussed.