The development and validation of the organisational innovativeness construct using confirmatory factor analysis

TLDR

Organisational innovativeness is widely regarded as key to competitive advantage, yet most studies focus on innovation activities rather than on developing and validating measurement constructs. The authors identified five dimensions of overall innovativeness through literature review, assembled them into a 20‑item construct, and validated it using a three‑step confirmatory factor analysis approach. The study highlights theoretical and methodological considerations for applying the validated innovativeness construct in future research.

Abstract

The role of organisational innovativeness, or innovative capability, in attaining competitive advantage has been widely discussed. Most research examines innovation activities and their associations with organisational characteristics, or investigates certain perspectives of innovative capability, such as product innovation. Much less attention, however, has been paid to develop and validate measurement constructs of organisational innovativeness. Through an extensive literature review, five dimensions of an organisation's overall innovativeness are identified. These five dimensions form the component factors of the organisational innovativeness construct. Following a three‐step approach, a final 20‐item measurement construct is validated. Theoretical and methodological issues in relation to application of the organisational innovativeness construct are discussed in light of these findings.