CEO temporal focus and R&D intensity-exploring boundary conditions

Purpose This study aims to examine how CEOs’ temporal focus shapes firms’ R&D investment decisions. Drawing on the upper echelons perspective, the authors explore how CEOs’ present and future temporal orientations influence innovation investment and how external and internal governance mechanisms condition these effects. Design/methodology/approach Integrating insights from temporal cognition, capital market behaviour and CEO–top management team (TMT) dynamics, the authors theorise that CEOs’ present focus discourages R&D investment, whereas CEOs’ future focus promotes it. The authors further propose that capital market patience and the proportion of output-oriented TMT members act as boundary conditions that attenuate the negative effect of present focus and amplify the positive effect of future focus. The authors test these arguments using panel data from 201 Indian manufacturing firms over four years (804 firm-year observations) and estimate multiple linear regression models with standardised predictors. Findings The results indicate that CEOs’ future focus is positively associated with R&D investment, whereas CEOs’ present focus is negatively associated with it. Moreover, both capital market patience and output-oriented TMT significantly moderate these relationships. Specifically, patient capital and output-oriented teams mitigate the short-term bias of present-focused CEOs and strengthen the long-term orientation of future-focused CEOs in allocating resources to R&D. Originality/value This study advances upper echelons and innovation research by shifting attention from innovation outcomes to investment decisions, foregrounding CEO temporal cognition and uncovering how governance mechanisms jointly shape strategic risk-taking in emerging markets.