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Abstract Studies in the literature on the performance of research scientists have examined a range of organisational factors but have often ignored personality characteristics. The present paper describes the preliminary work in examining personality using the Kirton Adaption‐Innovation theory (KAI). In the course of the work, interesting patterns were detected in the sub‐factors of which the KAI inventory is composed. This led to the idea of characterising researchers according to one of four types, as determined by the sub‐factors of KAI. The paper describes the characteristics of the four types according to their level of creative performance and skills performance and also their level of job satisfaction. It suggests that this characterisation may hold useful insights regarding the deployment of research scientists.
Lowe et al. (Wed,) studied this question.