Innovation and Personality: A Study of Attitude to Innovation among Krasnoyarsk Students and Business Experts using the Basadur-Hausdorff Method

There is a fair amount of demand for research into innovation and its role in a modern person’s life. Readiness for change and innovation is a sign that a society follows the path of progress. It also allows one to make predictions regarding that society’s development. This paper is an attempt to study people’s attitudes to innovation. It was conducted within the city of Krasnoyarsk using a method designed by M. Basadur and P. Haudsorf, creators of a recognized scale for measuring an individual’s attitude to innovation. The paper includes a detailed description of the method itself and gives an overview of relevant literature. The study is based on responses provided by various Humanities students from the Siberian Federal University and experts from the Krasnoyarsk City Innovation and Technology Business Incubator. The respondents were given a questionnaire comprising 24 questions and allowing researchers to gauge the Krasnoyarsk community’s overall perception of creativity, predisposition to innovation, and attitude to new ideas in their immediate areas of activity. The results were distributed across four scales, which revealed a positive attitude to innovation and a readiness to embrace it in both respondent groups. Respondents from the Business Incubator sent a clear message that new ideas must be put into practice. They also strongly supported boosting creativity on a personal level so as to help promote a highly developed society. Student respondents were fully in tune with Krasnoyarsk business experts and in addition revealed high potential for developing and implementing innovation. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2015.v6n6s7p28