Abstract
Due to the close relationship among intrinsic/extrinsic motivation, regulatory focus, and creativity revealed by previous literature, intrinsic/extrinsic motivation may play a mediating role between regulatory focus and creativity. Therefore, the present study aimed to investigate the relationship between regulatory focus and creativity by combining intrinsic/extrinsic motivation. In this study, senior high school students (n = 418) completed the Regulatory Focus Questionnaire, the Working Preference Inventory, the Williams Creativity Assessment Packet, and the Kirton Adaption–Innovation Inventory. The correlation analysis showed that both promotion and prevention focus positively correlated with intrinsic motivation; intrinsic motivation and promotion focus positively correlated with creativity personality and innovative-adaptive cognitive style; and extrinsic motivation and prevention focus negatively correlated with innovative–adaptive cognitive style. Furthermore, a path model showed that promotion focus positively predicted creativity through the mediation of intrinsic motivation. In general, our study suggests that intrinsic motivation plays a mediating role between promotion focus and creativity. Our results complement those of previous studies and serve as inspiration for the cultivation of creativity in classroom or enterprise settings.
Highlights
Creativity plays an increasingly important role in environmental adaptation from both individual and organizational perspectives in the increasingly changing world
Based on the aforementioned close relationship among regulatory focus, intrinsic/extrinsic motivation, and creativity, we proposed the following hypotheses: Hypothesis 1: Promotion focus is positively related to creativity, while prevention focus is negatively related to creativity
Based on the aforementioned hypotheses, we proposed the hypothesized model depicted in Figure 1, in which promotion focus and prevention focus both predicted creativity through the mediation of intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation, and the effect of grade was controlled because of the significant difference in intrinsic motivation between grades
Summary
Creativity plays an increasingly important role in environmental adaptation from both individual and organizational perspectives in the increasingly changing world. Previous studies have revealed that both regulatory focus and intrinsic/extrinsic motivation have a significant impact on creativity (Amabile, 1983; Guo et al, 2000; Eisenberger and Rhoades, 2001; Lam and Chiu, 2002; Herman and Reiter-Palmon, 2011; Bittner and Heidemeier, 2013; Sacramento et al, 2013; Tang et al, 2015); it remains unclear whether intrinsic/extrinsic motivation plays a mediating role between regulatory focus and creativity. The present study attempted to examine the relationship between regulatory focus and creativity in conjunction with intrinsic/extrinsic motivation. Higgins (1997) distinguished between two kinds of regulatory focus, i.e., promotion focus and prevention focus; the former reflects an inclination toward hope, aspiration, and accomplishment, whereas the latter reflects an inclination toward security, safety, and responsibility. Individuals who are promotion focused pay more attention to information related
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