Assessment of the time orientation of clinical research associates in the pharmaceutical industry of South Africa

Abstract

This research study was the first to investigate the nature of time-use behaviour of the South African Clinical Research Associates (CRA’s) and Clinical Trial Managers (CTM’s). The study determined the relative polychronicity of project members in clinical trials in South Africa and identified possible non-alignment in the approaches and expectations between managers of clinical research projects and that of their project staff members. The study assumed that the clinical trial project environment is monochronic by nature. Information about a possible mismatch in expected temporal orientation of project staff and real temporal orientation of project staff would constitute grounds for adaptation of project management execution guidelines and staff selection processes for CRA’s and Managers of clinical trials. Quantitative data were collected through the Inventory of Polychronic Values measuring instrument from a sample of the total registered membership base of the South African Clinical Research Association by means of a web based questionnaire. The study analysed the relationships between the following three constructs of relevance: 1. CRA’s own personal preferences for time-use, and 2. CRA’s perceptions of what time-use behaviour their direct managers expect from them, and 3. Managers’ expectations for the time-use behaviour of CRA’s. CRA’s were found to be relatively monochronic in their work behaviour towards time-use and Managers to be more polychronic than CRA’s. Within each group a range of timeuse opinions and preferences were found. Within the constraints of sample size, Cultural Heritage and Age were the only demographic variables found to exert significant influence on the dependent variables in this study. A good alignment was found between the CRA’s perceptions of the time-use behaviours expected from them and the Managers’ expectations for time-use behaviour. The results of this study relate to complementary role differentiation between monochronic and polychronic people in project execution and management.