Toward an explanatory model of innovative behavior

Research on innovative behavior has persistently focused on determining the correlations between numerous demographic and psychographic variables and specific external actions. Unfortunately, such research has consistently produced unreliable results. A preferred alternative to this line of research is an analysis of the causes of innovative behavior with the objective of understanding the process underlying this activity. A framework is proposed for examining innovative behavior based upon a comprehensive model of variety seeking, of which innovative behavior is one outcome. The framework attempts to depict the causes of, the processes involved, and the outcomes of variety seeking, particularly as it relates to innovative behavior. A number of propositions are presented.