Academic orientation and professional commitment of young scientists and technologists: a preliminary study

Summary form only given. This study, of a preliminary nature, was conducted among scientists and engineers using in-depth semi-structured interviews. It seeks to identify the key factors associated with academic and business orientation and to relate these factors with the level of professional commitment. Although largely overlapping, academic orientation differs from scientific orientation in that it also includes liking to teach and to work with students and the desire to participate in academic activities and share all other aspects of academic life. The findings appear to question the traditional view according to which academic orientation is opposed to business orientation. On the contrary, this study shows that these two orientations can be considered as independent dimensions and not as the two extremes of a continuum. Willingness to stay in academia was associated with high levels of academic orientation though not necessarily with low levels of business orientation. On the other hand, a career in industry seems to attract particularly those who score low on academic orientation and have a particular dislike for academic rites and rituals. Individuals scoring high on academic orientation and on business orientation were also found to have high levels of professional commitment