The Maverickism Scale measures how far a person behaves as a maverick at work: someone who is unconventional, takes risks and breaks with the status quo, while staying focused on goals and success. Elliroma Gardiner and I developed it because we could not find an existing measure. We deliberately limited it to the functional side of maverickism.
The scale has seven items and gives a single score. In the development study of 458 full-time workers it was reliable enough for research use (alpha .72) and measured one dimension. People who scored higher were more extraverted, more open to experience and less agreeable. They also kept taking risks in a laboratory task when feedback led others to pull back.
A second paper (2015, Journal of Managerial Psychology) examines the personality and learning processes behind maverickism. Other researchers have since used the scale in studies of creativity, the dark triad and workplace deviance.
Key references
- Gardiner, E., & Jackson, C. J. (2012). Workplace mavericks: How personality and risk-taking propensity predicts maverickism. British Journal of Psychology, 103(4), 497–519. doi:10.1111/j.2044-8295.2011.02090.x
- Gardiner, E., & Jackson, C. J. (2015). Personality and learning processes underlying maverickism. Journal of Managerial Psychology, 30, 726–740. doi:10.1108/JMP-07-2012-0230
- Jordan, Fitzsimmons & Callan (2023). Positively deviant: New evidence for the beneficial capital of maverickism to organizations. Group & Organization Management. doi:10.1177/10596011221102297