Oener, Bengi; (1996) A cross-cultural study of the influence of context on adaption-innovation. Doctoral thesis (Ph.D), UCL (University College London).

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Abstract

The present thesis examines the style of adaption-innovation in social contexts as operationalised by the Kirton Adaption-innovation Theory, within British and Turkish samples. The assumption of consistency of style across contexts is investigated. The Turkish sample is examined both by qualitative and quantitative research. In terms of qualitative research, subjects are asked to indicate various contexts in which they feel themselves as adaptors or innovators in open-ended questionnaires. In another qualitative research study, individuals' social representations about innovators and adaptors are investigated by semi-structured interviews. The quantitative research on both British and Turkish samples includes the application of the Kirton Adaption Innovation (KAI) inventory together with versions of the scale designed to test adaption-innovation in different social contexts. The contexts chosen are: family, relationship with the opposite sex and relationship with friends. In addition, people's preferences for styles are investigated across contexts. The back translation of the Turkish version of KAI inventory is examined in a separate study to test the possible effects of the translation. The results indicate cross-cultural differences between the British and the Turkish samples both in terms of adaptive- innovative characteristics measured by the KAI inventory and in terms of the stability of style across contexts. In the Turkish study, contrary to established findings, significant negative correlations between originality and efficiency subscales are obtained from different samples consistently throughout the thesis. The orthodox three factor structure of originality, efficiency and rule/group conformity is only achieved within organisational settings in the last part of the quantitative study. In relation to context differences, both the British and the Turkish studies indicate significant differences in terms of the degree of adaption-innovation in different contexts. Although qualitative research suggests the possibility of a style switch across contexts, no style switch is observed in the adaption-innovation scores of individuals across contexts. The implications of these findings are discussed within the scope of the theory of adaption-innovation.

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