Toward a Scale to Measure a Level of Individual Behavior in Regards to Responsible Innovation Concept in a Business Context

In a traditional view, innovation is seen as a silver bullet to bring well-being to society. However, various reports seem to prove that this assumption is no longer valid. Almost always, the adverse impacts of innovation endorse that innovation is no longer a sole province of innovators. In many areas, innovations interact with stakeholders from multiple backgrounds. In order to allow a ‘better society with a better innovation’, scholars then raise a concern to take into account an ethical perspective in the innovation processes. Several frameworks have been offered to fulfill such demands. However, it seems that these prior concepts find little fit with the current challenges that society faces. This then drives the emergence of a new innovation approach, namely responsible innovation.<br/><br/>However, current conceptions of responsible innovation suffer from a failure to take a quantitative assessment into account. Regrettably, this failure becomes a shortcoming of current rationale in the responsible innovation arena. Of particular concern is the absence of a scale to measure a level of individual behavior in regards to the responsible innovation concept, namely a responsible innovation scale. At this moment, this scale is arguably a necessity in the business context because it allows the innovators to measure how responsible they are while undertaking their jobs.<br/><br/>In order to develop such a scale, a survey was firstly administered to 244 respondents. Subsequently, the response was examined using Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA). Stability of factor structure that was derived from EFA was then assessed using coefficient comparability in a large amount of random half sample. The most stable factor structure was subsequently validated using multiple statistical analytic methods. The finding showed that such measurement tool can be operationalized using eight questions. Finally, study limitations and fruitful future studies were offered to improve the scale in certain contexts.<br/><br/>Keyword: responsibility, innovation, responsible innovation, responsible innovation scale, business, individual behavior, factor analysis