Predictive validity of two firm innovativeness scales: empirical evidence

Abstract

Innovativeness is an important determinant of firm success. However, most of the current research has investigated this phenomenon from the managerial perspective. Responding to calls by innovation scholars, for a customer-oriented approach, researchers have recently developed customer-based scales for firm innovativeness measurement (e.g. Firm Reputation for Product Innovation - Henard & Dacin, 2010; Perceived Firm Innovativeness - Kunz et al., 2011). Despite the importance of valid and reliable measurement, current research does not provide satisfactory advice on the effectiveness of these measures. To fill this important gap, the present research contributes by examining the relative effectiveness of these scales in two product categories and across four brands. The results indicate that while the Reputation for Product Innovation scale performs better in terms of scale sensitivity the two scales have displayed different degrees of ability in predicating the four outcome variables included