Weekly, technical and administrative work hours: Relationships to the extent R&D professionals innovate and help manage the innovation process

An exploratory study of 2308 R&D professionals working for U.S. based laboratories belonging to 24 large corporations finds inverted-U relationships between the technical, administrative and total hours R&D professionals work per week and the extent they innovate and help manage the innovation process. These relationships suggest that R&D professionals can increase the extent they accomplish these performance objectives by working up to an optimal number of weekly hours and by combining technical hours with up to an optimal number of administrative hours. When R&D professionals work 60 weekly hours by combining 50 technical hours with 10 administrative hours, they maximize the extent they innovate. When R&D professionals work 60 weekly hours by combining 35 technical hours with 25 administrative hours, they maximize the extent they help manage the innovation process. The implications of these findings for having R&D professionals increase the extent they accomplish these performance objectives and, therefore, develop their careers, are discussed.