Kirton adaption-innovation theory: organizational implications

Abstract

M.J. Kirton's cognitive style theory (adaption-innovation) is considered from two points of view. First, the adaptor-innovator profiles typically used to describe the adaption-innovation (AI) variable are developed to specify the AI continuum in terms of structural inclusion. A content analysis of Kirton's theoretical statements is then presented as a collation of 47 theory elements organized into eight descriptor categories. An analysis of those categories suggests that Kirton's A-I theory is essentially a theory of organizational behavior, rather than an intraindividual theory of psychological process.