Abstract
AbstractAlthough the theory of the socio‐cultural approach to creativity is gaining steam, empirical studies with advanced statistical tools are lagging behind. To address the gap of empirical studies integrating individual, social environmental, and cultural factors, we examined how motivational factors and environmental responsiveness were jointly related to college students’ creative achievement in different nations. Participants were university students from eight culturally and geographically diverse regions: Argentina, Austria, Chile, China, Kosovo, Russia, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey. Overall, the results painted a generally positive picture of the relationship between environmental responsiveness, motivational factors, and creative achievement. By employing structural equation modeling (SEM) and multiple‐group SEM (MGSEM) methods, results partially supported the mediation role of motivational factors between environmental responsiveness and creative achievement. In addition, we observed more consistent relationships between parental responsiveness and motivational factors or creative achievement, than lecturer. This held in common across all seven countries which fulfilled the requirements for the SEM process, indicating that parents play a potential vital role in supporting students’ motivational aspects and creative achievements, whereas lecturers supporting role is relative to the cultural organizational circumstances. As the first large‐scale empirical study with a socio‐cultural approach, we invited further discussion and proposed future cross‐cultural research of this kind. Research implications and practical suggestions were addressed.
Highlights
As recently stated by creativity scholars in the “Socio-Cultural Manifesto,” the primary challenge of creativity research is to “weave together various dimensions which have historically been studied in isolation or even in opposition to each other” (Glaveanu et al, 2019)
The cross-national creativity studies, in particular, help to illustrate a more nuanced picture of the socio-individual interaction by juxtaposing hypotheses among and about different cultures like the Social Environmental and Motivational Factors Associated with Creative Achievement prototypical west versus prototypical east (Niu et al, 2010; Saeki et al, 2001) or individualistic versus collectivist values (Tang et al, 2016; Zha et al, 2006)
From a large-scale cross-cultural perspective, the present study examined how environmental responsiveness and motivational factors are jointly related to college students’ creative achievement
Summary
As recently stated by creativity scholars in the “Socio-Cultural Manifesto,” the primary challenge of creativity research is to “weave together various dimensions which have historically been studied in isolation or even in opposition to each other” (Glaveanu et al, 2019). One way to delve into the socio-cultural nature of creativity with empirical studies is to explore the interplay between individual and social environment factors in certain cultural contexts and pinpoint their similarities and differences by conducting cross-cultural comparisons. The cross-national creativity studies, in particular, help to illustrate a more nuanced picture of the socio-individual interaction by juxtaposing hypotheses among and about different cultures like the Social Environmental and Motivational Factors Associated with Creative Achievement prototypical west versus prototypical east (Niu et al, 2010; Saeki et al, 2001) or individualistic versus collectivist values (Tang et al, 2016; Zha et al, 2006). Most empirical studies integrating individual and social factors rely on intra-national information, with few studies undertaking a cross-cultural exploration between two countries (e.g., Deng et al, 2016), let alone among multiple countries. Even when the data have been collected, the methodological challenge of measurement equivalence is yet another crucial obstacle to meaningful cross-cultural comparisons concerning the equivalence of measured constructs across cultural groups (Chen, 2008; van de Vijver, 2018)
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
