A cross-validation study of the Kirton Adaption-Innovation Inventory in three research and development organizations

Abstract

A cross-validation study of the Kirton Adaption- Innovation Inventory (KAI) was conducted with 256 professional employees from three applied research and development organizations. The KAI was found to correlate well with direct measures of innovativeness (peer-nomination and management-rated measures of innovativeness) as well as with indirect indicators of innovativeness (number of publications, education, performance as rated by management, organizational level, self-esteem, intolerance of ambiguity, and need for clarity). These results, moreover, held up well in each of the three research and development organizations. The originality subscale was found to be a potentially useful short version of the KAI. Implications for the use of the KAI are discussed.