Alphabetical order of authorship reflects equal contribution.Many organizational and environmental factors influence a firm's commitment to innovation. Among the organizational factors, the perceptual lens of the top management team and the team's dynamics are posited to have a significant direct impact on the firm's commitment to innovation. This study revisits the classic arguments of Hayes and Abernathy and empirically examines several of their propositions. The results clearly indicate a positive relationship between the technical orientation of the TMTaCEO and above-average R&D intensity. This effect remains even after controlling for the impact of performance in prior periods and firm diversification. Overall, these results suggest that establishing a high level of commitment to innovation will be promoted or impeded in many organizations because of the predispositions of the CEO and top management team.

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Organizational life cycle research seeks to explain changes in firm characteristics as the firm grows and matures. Unlike most life cycle research this paper focuses on changes that occur during the firm's crucial early stages. Specifically, we examine differences in an entrepreneur's time allocation as the young firm moves to later stages. This issue is important for two reasons. First, time is one of the entrepreneur's most valuable resources. Second, this approach fits with the growing popularity of behavioral research in entrepreneurship. Nine hypotheses are tested using data from a three-year, large-scale, nationwide survey of entrepreneurs.

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