128 The Marketing Book
McKenna, 1984; Messick, 1984). Cognitive style
must be distinguished from cognitive level,
which is the extent of intelligence, intellectual
complexity or capacity shown by a decision
maker. When we speak of consumers’ cognitive
styles, we are not talking about their intelligence
or intellectual level. We simply mean the way in
which they accomplish decision making prob-
lem solving. No style is inherently superior to
any other, though each may come into its own in
appropriate circumstances. The theory of adap-
tive–innovative cognitive styles advanced by
Kirton (1994) proposes that everyone can be
placed somewhere on a continuum between two
extreme styles of decision making. At one
extreme, adaptors prefer to make decisions in an
orderly and precise manner, and they confine
their problem solving endeavours to the frame
of reference in which the problem has arisen.
They prefer to seek better ways of accomplish-
ing known tasks, coming up with solutions that
can be unobtrusively implemented within their
everyday routines. The extreme adaptor is
preoccupied with the accuracy of details, pru-
dence, soundness, efficiency, and a degree of
conformity. The adaptor is happiest working
within a well-established pattern of rules and
operating procedures.
By contrast, the extreme innovator prefers
to think tangentially, challenges rules and
procedures, and is uninhibited about breaking
with established methods and advocating
novel perspectives and solutions. The innova-
tor is easily bored by routine and seeks novelty
and stimulating in discontinuous change; he or
she tends towards risk-taking, exploration and
trial (Kirton, 1994). Innovators’ solutions gen-
erally transcend the context in which the
problem has arisen. They tend to produce
different ways of behaving which often entail
radical change. This dimension of cognitive
style is measured by the Kirton Adaption–
Innovation Inventory (KAI).
KAI respondents estimate on 32 five-point
ratings how easy or difficult they would find
it to sustain particular adaptive and innova-
tive behaviours over long periods of time. The
measure is scored in the direction of innova-
tiveness from an adaptive extreme (32) to an
innovative extreme (160), and with a theoret-
ical mean suggested by the scale midpoint
(96). International general population samples
have observed means of 95 ± 0.05, about
which scores are approximately normally dis-
tributed within the restricted range of 45–146.
The KAI shows high levels of internal reliabil-
ity and validity and suitability for consumer
research (Bagozzi and Foxall, 1996). As would
be expected of a measure of style, KAI scores
do not correlate with measures of cognitive
level such as IQ and intellectual capacity
(Kirton, 1994).
Interest in using this theory and measure
in consumer research derives from the fact that
the dimensions of personality shown to be
weakly characteristic of market initiators, the
earliest adopters of new brands and products
(Figure 6.2), are also characteristic of those
high-KAI scorers whom Kirton calls innovators
(Kirton, 1994). This term is used in preference
to the more usual ‘consumer innovators’ to
distinguish the first adopters of new products
and brands from innovators in the sense
defined by Kirton (Foxall, 1995). The early
identification of market initiators during the
firm’s new product development process is
strategically important for four reasons (Gold-
smith and Flynn, 1992). First, they represent the
immediate source of cash flow to the company
eager to start retrieving the expenses of new
product development: the fact that initiators are
usually heavy users of the product class in
question means that they play a dispropor-
tionate role in recouping developmental costs.
Second, they may provide market leadership
and help set up barriers to new competition
that prevent other firms making a fast entry
into the market. Third, they provide important
feedback to the company on further new
product development. And, fourth, they com-
municate the innovation to the less active
sections of the market, the bulk of the market
who will eventually provide the high levels of
sales and profits.