This study compared scores on the Kirton Adaption-Innovation Inventory of 60 first-year nursing students with scores of 73 nonnursing majors of approximately the same age to test the hypothesis that, in general, individuals selecting nursing as a major tend to show a more adaptive style of creativity in problem solving than their nonnursing peers. Analysis indicated the nursing students were significantly more “adaptive” in problem solving and less “innovative” than the nonnursing control group.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
AdamsC. E. (1992) Innovative behaviors in nurse executives. Nursing Management, in press.
2.
American Nurses' Association. (1987) Facts about nursing. Kansas City, MO: American Nurses' Association.
3.
BaileyJ. T.McDonaldF. J.ClausK. E. (1970) Evaluation of the development of creative behavior in an experimental nursing program. Nursing Research, 17, 100–108.
4.
CorcoranS. (1986) Planning by expert and novice nurses in cases of varying complexity. Research in Nursing and Health, 9, 155–162.
5.
deTornyayR. (1968) The effect of an experimental teaching strategy on problem-solving abilities of sophomore nursing students. Nursing Research, 17, 108–144.
6.
EisenhauerL.GendropS. (1991) Review of research in creative problem solving in nursing. In ClaytonB. J.BayP. (Eds.), Review of research in nursing education. New York: National League for Nursing. Pp. 79–94.
7.
ElderR. L.JohnsonD. C. (1989) Varying relationships between adaption-innovation and social desirability. Psychological Reports, 65, 1151–1154.
8.
EttlieJ. E.O'KeefeR. D. (1982) Innovative attitudes, values and intentions in organization. Journal of Management Studies, 19, 163–182.
9.
FoxallG. R. (1986a) Managerial orientations of adaptors and innovators. Journal of Managerial Psychology, 1, 24–27.
10.
FoxallG. R. (1986b) Managers in transition: An empirical test of Kirton's Adaption-Innovation theory and its implication of mid-career MBA. Technovation, 4, 219–232.
11.
FoxallG. R. (1988) Consumer innovativeness: Novelty-seeking, creativity and cognitive style. In HirschmanE. C. (Ed.), Research in consumer behavior. Vol. 3. Greenwich, CT: JAI Press. Pp. 79–113.
12.
GoldsmithR. E. (1984) Personality characteristics: Association with adaption-innovation. Journal of Psychology, 117, 159–165.
13.
GoldsmithR. E. (1985) The factorial composition of the KAI inventory. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 45, 245–250.
14.
GoldsmithR. E.MatherleyT. A. (1987) Adaption-Innovation and creativity, replication and extension. British Journal of Social Psychology, 120, 149–155.
15.
GryskiewiczS. S.HillsD. W.HoltK.HillsK. (1986) Understanding managerial creativity: The Kirton Adaption-Innovation Inventory and other assessment measures. Report from Centre for Creative Leadership, Greensboro, NC.
16.
GulF. A. (1986) Differences between adaptors and innovators attending accountancy courses on their preferences in work and curricula. Journal of Accounting Education, 4, 203–209.
17.
HaldiP. (1990) Creative problem solving styles and home care registered nurses' use of medication strategies. (Unpublished manuscript, Washington State Univer., Intercollegiate Center for Nursing Education).
18.
HaywardG.EverettC. (1983) Adaptors and innovators: Data from the Kirton Adaption-Innovation Inventory in a local authority setting. Journal of Occupational Psychology, 56, 339–342.
19.
HollandP. A. (1987) Adaptors and innovators: Application of the Kirton Adaption-Innovation Inventory to bank employees. Psychological Reports, 60, 263–270.
20.
JordeP. (1984) Change and innovation in early childhood education: The relationship between selected personal characteristics of administrators and willingness to adopt computer technology. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Stanford Univer., California.
21.
KellerR. T.HollandW. E. (1978a) A cross-validation study of the Kirton Adaption-Innovation Inventory in three research and development organizations. Applied Psychological Measurement, 2, 563–570.
22.
KellerR. T.HollandW. E. (1978b) Individual characteristics of innovativeness and communication in research and development organizations. Journal of Managerial Psychology, 1, 24–27.
23.
KirtonM. J. (1976) Adaptors and innovators: A description and measure. Journal of Applied Psychology, 61, 622–629.
24.
KirtonM. J. (1977) Adaptors and innovators and superior-subordinate identification. Psychological Reports, 41, 289–290.
25.
KirtonM. J. (1980) Adaptors and innovators in organizations. Human Relations, 3, 213–224.
26.
KirtonM. J. (1982) Adaption-innovation: A theory of organizational creativity. In GryskiewiczS.ShieldsJ. (Eds.), Creativity Week IV. 1981. Greensboro, NC: Center for Creative Leadership. Pp. 90–101.
27.
KirtonM. J. (1987) Kirton Adaption-Innovation Inventory: Manual. Hatfield, UK: Occupational Research Centre.
28.
KirtonM. J. (Ed.) (1989) Adaptors and innovators: Styles of creativity and problem-solving. New York: Routledge.
29.
KirtonM. J.PenderS. R. (1982) The adaption-innovation continuum, occupational type and course selection. Psychological Reports, 51, 883–886.
30.
KramerM.PolifroniE. C.OrganekN. (1986) Effects of faculty practice on student learning outcomes. Journal of Professional Nursing, 2, 289–301.
31.
KramerM.TeganE.KnauberJ. (1970) The effects of presets on creativity problem solving. Nursing Research, 19, 303–310.
32.
LigmanN. J. (1991) Creative problem solving styles and intention to leave work groups in medical-surgical nurses. (Unpublished manuscript, Washington State Univer., Intercollegiate Center of Nursing Education.).
33.
LoweE. A.TaylorW. G. K. (1986) The management of research in the life sciences: The characteristics of researchers. R & D Management, 16, 45–61.
34.
MarrinerA. (1977) The student's perception of his creativity. Nursing Research, 26, 57–60.
35.
MuddS. (1986) Analytic review of research on the Kirton Adaption-Innovation Inventory (KAI). (Social and A Behavioral Sciences documents, 1986, No. 2, MS #2775)San Rafael, CA: Select Press.
36.
OlsenM. (1968) Social influences in decision making. Journal of Nursing Education, 7, 11–16.
37.
PettigrewA. C. (1988) Creativity and cognitive style of creativity: A description of graduate nursing faculty and construct validation of the Kirton Adaption-Innovation Theory. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Indiana Univer., School of Nursing.
38.
SullivanE. (1987) Critical thinking, creativity, clinical performance and achievement in R. N. students. Nurse Educator, 12, 12–16.
