Stay hungry: development and validation of a measure of dissatisfaction with the status quo

Employee dissatisfaction with the status quo (DWSQ) has been recently identified as a motivator to minimize discrepancies between current performance and aspirational standards and to enhance innovative behaviors. A key challenge in applying this construct is a lack of a consistent definition and validated measure. To address this issue, we develop and validate a 16-item DWSQ scale through six steps, across two samples from the IT sector and one sample from the finance and banking sector. The final version of the DWSQ scale has four factors: Internal Questioning, Improvement Focus, Expressing Concern, and Nonconformist. Factor analyses and regression analyses results provide strong evidence of the convergent, discriminant, criterion-related, and incremental validity, along with the internal consistency and test-retest reliability of the scale. DWSQ explains the variances of innovative behavior and adaptive performance over cognitive ability and big five personality traits, supporting the motivating role of DWSQ in the workplace. The comprehensive conceptualization of the construct and the validated measure of DWSQ will enable researchers to expand theories including DWSQ and organizations to select and develop innovative employees and strengthen organizational innovative capability.