Handbook of Management Scales/Generational expansion

Generational expansion (alpha = 0.77)

Description

A comprehensive set of measures is developed to assess an innovation’s locus, type, and characteristics. The measure described on this page is one of these measures. It is found that the concepts of competence destroying and competence enhancing are composed of two distinct constructs that, although correlated, separately characterize an innovation: new competence acquisition and competence enhancement/destruction. Scales are developed to measure these constructs and show that new competence acquisition and competence enhancing/destroying are different from other innovation characteristics including core/peripheral and incremental/radical, as well as architectural and generational innovation types.

Following the typical process of scale construction, the empirical analysis is divided into four stages:

1. content face validity analysis with expert judges.
2. scale purification through exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis.
3. assessment of discriminant and convergent validity through analysis of covariance structures.
4. nomological validity through the analysis of the effect of innovation characteristics on time to introduction and commercial success.

Definition

Generational innovation involves changes in subsystems linked together with existing linking mechanisms. It is found that generational innovation consists of two factors: Generational consolidation and generational expansion.

Items

• PRODUCT now contains at least one subsystem that it did not contain before INNOVATION was introduced.
• PRODUCT now contains more subsystems than it did before INNOVATION was introduced.

Source

• Gatignon et al. (2002): A Structural Approach to Assessing Innovation: Construct Development of Innovation Locus, Type, and Characteristics. Management Science, Vol. 48, No. 9, pp. 1103–1122.

Comments

The items are quite similar. It might therefore be difficult to capture different aspects of the construct. Only two items were used. It is strongly recommended to use more items.