Abstract
The development of a self-report scale to measure domain specific consumer innovativeness is described. A major problem faced by researchers interested in the diffusion of innovations has been the difficulty in measuring the innovativeness construct in a reliable and valid way. Several operationalizations have been proposed and are commonly used, yet none has received substantial evidence supporting its reliability and validity. A series of six studies describes the development and evaluation of a six-item, self-report scale to measure innovativeness within a specific domain of interest familiar to the consumer. The scale is shown to be easy to administer, highly reliable and valid, and adaptable across domains.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Babakus, Emin, Carl E. Ferguson, Jr., and Karl G. Joreskog. 1987. “The Sensitivity of Confirmatory Maximum Likelihood Factor Analysis to Violations of Measurement Scale and Distributional Assumptions.”Journal of Marketing Research 24 (May): 222–228.
Bagozzi, Richard P. 1980.Causal Models in Marketing. New York: John Wiley & Sons.
Bagozzi, Richard P., and Youjae Yi. 1988. “On the Evaluation of Structural Equations Models.”Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science 16 (Spring): 74–94.
Bentler, P.M. 1984.Theory and Implementation of EQS: A Structural Equations Program. Los Angeles: BMDP Statistical Software.
Bentler, P.M., and Douglas G. Bonett. 1980. “Significance Tests and Goodness of Fit in the Analysis of Covariance Structures.”Psychological Bulletin 88 (November): 588–606.
Brown, Frederick G. 1976.Principles of Educational and Psychological Testing. Second Edition. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.
Browne, Michael W. 1984, “Asymptotically Distribution-Free Methods for the Analysis of Covariance Structures,”British Journal of Mathematical and Statistical Psychology 37: 62–83.
Burisch, Matthias. 1984. “Approaches to Personality Inventory, Construction,”American Psychologist 39 (March): 214–227.
Buss, Arnold H. 1989. “Personality As Traits.”American Psychologist 44 (November): 1378–1388.
Campbell, Donald T., and Donald W. Fiske. 1959. “Convergent and Discriminant Validation by the Multitrait-Multimethod Matrix.”Psychological Bulletin 56 (March): 81–105.
Childers, Terry L. 1986. “Assessment of the Psychometric Properties of an Opinion Leadership Scale.”Journal of Marketing Research 23 (May): 184–188.
Churchill, Gilbert A., Jr. 1979. “A Paradigm for Developing Better Measures of Marketing Constructs.”Journal of Marketing Research 16 (February): 64–73.
Engel, James F., Roger D. Blackwell, and Paul W. Miniard. 1986.Consumer Behavior. Fifth Edition. New York: The Dryden Press.
Epstein, Seymour. 1979. “The Stability of Behavior: I. On Predicting Most of the People Much of the Time.”Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 37 (July): 1097–1126.
Eysenck, Hans J. 1958. “A Short Questionnaire for the Measurement of Two Dimensions of Personality.”Journal of Applied Psychology 42: 14–17.
Falthzik, Alfred M., and Marvin A. Jolson. 1974. “Statement Polarity in Attitude Studies.”Journal of Marketing Research 11 (February): 102–105.
Gatignon, Hubert, and Thomas S. Robertson. 1985. “A Propositional Inventory for New Diffusion Research.”Journal of Consumer Research 11 (March): 849–867.
Goldsmith, Ronald E., and Rene Desborde. 1990. “Further Validation of an Opinion Leadership Scale.”Journal of Business Research. Forthcoming.
Guilford, J.P. 1954.Psychometric Methods. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Hirschman, Elizabeth C. 1980. “Black Ethnicity and Innovative Communication.”Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science 8 (Spring): 100–118.
Houts, Arthur C., Thomas D. Cook, and William R. Shadish 1986. “The Person-Situation Debate: A Critical Multiplist Perspective.”Journal of Personality 54 (March): 52–105.
Hurt, H. Thomas, Katherine Joseph, and Chester D. Cook. 1977. “Scales for the Measurement of Innovativeness.”Human Communication Research 4 (Fall): 58–65.
King, Charles W., and John O. Summers. 1970. “Overlap of Opinion Leadership Across Consumer Product Categories.”Journal of Marketing Research 7 (February): 43–50.
Kohn, Carol A., and Jacob Jacoby. 1973. “Operationally Defining the Consumer Innovator.” Pp. 837–838 inProceedings of the American Psychological Association. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Kotler, Philip, and Gerald Zaltman. 1976. “Targeting Prospects for a New Product.”Journal of Advertising Research 16 (February): 7–18.
Lastovicka, John L., and Erich A. Joachimsthaler. 1988. “Improving the Detection of Personality—Behavior Relationships in Consumer Research.”Journal of Consumer Research 14 (March): 583–587.
Larsen, Knud S., and Jeff LeRoux. 1983. “Item Analysis Versus Factor Analysis in the Development of Unidimensional Attitude Scales.”Journal of Social Psychology 119: 95–101.
Messick, Samuel. 1981. “Constructs and Their Vicissitudes in Educational and Psychological Measurement.”Psychological Bulletin 89 (May): 575–588.
Midgley, David F., and Grahame R. Dowling. 1978. “Innovativeness: The Concept and Its Measurement.”Journal of Consumer Research, 4 (March): 229–242.
Nevin, John R. 1977. “Statement Polarity in Attitude Studies: Additional Evidence.” Pp. 337–340 inContemporary Marketing Thought. Eds. B.A. Greenberg and D.N. Bellinger. Chicago: American Marketing Association.
Onkvisit, Sak and John J. Shaw. 1989. “The Diffusion of Innovations Theory: Some Research Questions and Ideas.”Akron Business and Economic Review 20 (Spring): 46–55.
Peter, J. Paul. 1981. “Construct Validity: A Review of Basic Issues and Marketing Practices.”Journal of Marketing Research 18 (May): 133–145.
Price, Linda L., and Nancy M. Ridgway. 1983. “Development of a Scale to Measure Use Innovativeness.” Pp. 679–684 inAdvances in Consumer Research, Vol. 10, Eds. R.P. Bagozzi and A.M. Tybout. Ann Arbor, MI: Association for Consumer Research.
Ray, John J. 1985. “Acquiescence and Response Skewness in Scale Construction: a Paradox.”Personality and Individual Differences 6: 655–656.
Rogers, Everett M. 1962.Diffusion of Innovations New York: The Free Press.
Rogers, Everett M., and F. Floyd Shoemaker. 1971.Communication of Innovations. New York: The Free Press.
Sharma, Subhash, Srinivas Durvasula, and William R. Dillon. 1989. “Some Results on the Behavior of Alternate Covariance Structure Estimation Procedures in the Presence of Non-Normal Data.”Journal of Marketing Research 26 (May): 214–221.
Silver, N. Clayton, and William P. Dunlap. 1987. “Averaging Correlation Coefficients: Should Fisher’s Z Transformation Be Used?Journal of Applied Psychology 72 (February): 146–148.
Smith, Kent W. 1974. “Forming Composite Scales and Estimating Their Validity Through Factor Analysis.”Social Forces 53 (December): 168–180.
Strahan, R., and K. C. Gerbasi. 1972. “Short, Homogeneous Versions of the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale.”Journal of Clinical Psychology 28 (April): 191–193.
Tigert, Douglas J., Lawrence J. Ring, and Charles W. King. 1976. “Fashion Involvement and Buying Behavior: A Methodological Study.” Pp. 46–52. inAdvances in Consumer Research, Vol. 3. Ed. B.B. Anderson. Chicago: Association for Consumer Research.
Venkatraman, Meera P. 1988. “Investigating Differences in the Roles of Enduring and Instrumentally Involved Consumers in the Diffusion Process.” Pp. 299–303 inAdvances in Consumer Research, Vol. 15 Ed. Michael J. Houston. Provo, UT: Association for Consumer Research.
Wall Street Journal. “Student Spending.” December 11, 1986.
Wells, William D. 1961. “The Influence of Yeasaying Response Style.”Journal of Advertising Research 1 (June): 1–12.
— 1963. “How Chronic Overclaimers Distort Survey Findings.”Journal of Advertising Research 3 (June) 8–18.
Wells, William D., and Douglas J. Tigert 1971. “Activities, Interests, and Opinions.”Journal of Advertising Research 11 (August): 27–35.
Wiggins, Jerry S. 1973.Personality and Prediction: Principles of Personality Assessment Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.
Wilkie, William L. 1986.Consumer Behavior. New York: John Wiley & Sons.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Goldsmith, R.E., Hofacker, C.F. Measuring consumer innovativeness. JAMS 19, 209–221 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02726497
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02726497