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 in novativeness (peer-nomination and management- rated measures of innovativeness) as well as with in direct indicators of innovativeness (number of pub lications, education, performance as rated by man agement, organizational level, self-esteem, intoler ance of ambiguity, and need for clarity). These re sults, moreover, held up well in each of the three research and development organizations. The orig inality subscale was found to be a potentially useful short version of the KAI. Implications for the use of the KAI are discussed.