Do award-winning experiences benefit students’ creative self-efficacy and creativity? The moderated mediation effects of perceived school support for creativity

The study aims to investigate the effects of students’ perceived school support for creativity and creative self-efficacy on their individual creativity. It further examines the mediation of creative self-efficacy and the moderated mediation of perceived school support for creativity. A survey was conducted over a sample of 720 Design-majored students from universities of science and technology in Taiwan, among which 335 have won awards for their work in creative design (with award-winning experience), and 385 have none (without award-winning experience). The results were analyzed with a path analysis-based moderated mediation analysis to determine whether the hypotheses were supported. Research findings include: (1) students’ perceived school support for creativity had significant positive effects on both their creative self-efficacy and individual creativity; (2) perceived school support for creativity affected individual creativity via the mediation of creative self-efficacy; the mediation effects were higher on students with award-winning experiences(s) than on those without; (3) perceived school support for creativity had the effect of moderated mediation between their creative self-efficacy and individual creativity for students with award-winning experience(s); the effect was absent for students without award-winning experience. Based on the above findings, the implications and suggestions are provided for future research.