International Journal of Advanced Computer Science, Vol. 2, No. 3, Pp.105-109, Mar. 2012.

The Relationship of College Students Process of Study and Creativity: Creative Self-Efficacy as a Mediation
Chao-Jen Cheng, Shih-Ching Shiu, & Chih-Feng Chuang
Manuscript
Received: 28,Jan., 2012 Revised: 20,Feb., 2012 Accepted: 24,Feb., 2012 Published: 15,Apr., 2012

Keywords
Process of study, Creative self-efficacy, Creativity

Abstract The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationships among students process of study, creative self-efficacy and creativity while attending college. A total of 60 students enrolled in Hsiuping University of Science and Technology in central Taiwan were selected as samples for the study. The instruments for this study included three questionnaires to explore the aforesaid aspects. This researchers tested creative self-efficacy and process of study, and creativity with Pearson correlation and hierarchical regression analyses. The major findings of this research are (1) the process of study had direct positive predictability on creativity, and (2) the relationship between process of study and creativity is partially mediated by creative self-efficacy.

could cultivate the individual character of creativity, easy to produce and develop creative motivation, which is good at innovation behavior. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship of process of study, creative self-efficacy and creativity on college students.

2. Literature Review
A. Creativity Creativity is a domain-specific, subjective judgment of the novelty and value on an outcome of a particular action [3]. Basically creativity include two characteristicsnovelty and usefulness. The relative definition of creativity was from early focus on process, next to in terms of person, then product. Amabile [4] claimed that Creativity is best conceptualized as a behavior resulting from particular constellations of personal characteristics, cognitive abilities, and social environments. Thus creativity was proposed to be integrated into including personality and cognition to the study of creativity. Amabile [5] thought creativity is simply the production of novel, appropriate ideas in any realm of human activity. However, this contribution also needed to be useful. Zhou and George [6] also advocated new and better ways of doings to solve existing problems concerning products, services, manufacturing methods, and administrative process. B. Creative self-efficacy Ford [3] mentioned ability belief is one of the important factors of motivation for creating in his theory of creative action. Wood and Bandura [7] stated that self-efficacy refers to beliefs in ones capabilities to mobilize the motivation, cognitive resources, and courses of action needed to meet given situational demands. Tierney and Farmer [8] first investigated a preliminary the construct, creative self-efficacy. It differs from general self-efficacy as it is creativity-specific [8].In other words, Bandura [9] considered it is a persons belief that he can perform a creative behavior successfully in a specific setting. Sternberg and Williams [10]-[11] considered that self-efficacy took an important position in cultivation and development of individual creativity. C. Process of study The creative process is good for generating motivation to develop creative behavior, so the process of study is also a

1. Introduction
Creativity is the creative thinking ability of behavior, ideas and the finished product, based on the original knowledge, experience and owned curiosity, imagination, adventure, challenges, personality traits. By using the technology of creativity through the effective process, showing smooth flow, adaptation, original, sophisticated ability to obtain the concept of novel, unique, wonderful, and the different interest. In summary, creativity refers to the integrated, holistic activities as a whole performance. Facing such highly competitive circumstances, only when we have great creativity we can deal with all the challenges of the new era. Process of study is not only the process for individuals seek success but also the meaning and value of learning activities for students. Jan [1] considered that the more strong intrinsic motivation, the more well-developed creativity. Mao et al. [2] considered that the creative process
Chao-Jen Cheng, Office of Extension Education in Hsiuping University of Science and Technology, Taichung County 412-80, Taiwan (R.O.C.) ( micro.0402@gmail.com) Shih-Ching Shiu, Department of Human Resource Development in Hsiuping University of Science and Technology, Taichung County 412-80, Taiwan (R.O.C.) Chih-Feng Chuang, Department of Industrial Education and Technology in National Changhua University of Education, Changhua County 500-74,Taiwan (R.O.C.)

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International Journal of Advanced Computer Science, Vol. 2, No. 3, Pp.105-109, Mar. 2012. TABLE 1 THE RELIABILITY OF CREATIVE SELF-EFFICACY SCALE

key to individual creation, which is helpful for found the learning meaning and value. Therefore process of study is representative for individual successful process. Chen [12] proposed ATDE teaching model including Asking, Thinking, Doing, and Evaluation. Yeh and Wu [13] pointed out that teaching methods and peer interaction could enhance students creative expression. Sternberg and Lubart [14]-[16] thought that it is beneficial for creativity if encourage and attention a creative environment. Cole et al. [17] pointed out that teachers with creativity should give students positive feedback, rather than an authoritative way to them.

Item
1. I could achieve creatively goals by myself. 2. I am sure I could complete difficult task creatively. 3. I think I could have creative ways to get important result. 4. I believe I could succeed with creative efforts. 5. I could overcome many challenges creatively. 6. I am confident to complete difficult task creatively. 7. Compared with others, I could complete most tasks creatively. 8. I could complete it creatively even if facing difficult task Total (N=60)

Corrected Item-Total Correlation

Cronbach's Alpha value if Item Deleted

.674 .701 .688 .651 .784 .787 .791 .793

.914 .911 .912 .915 .904 .904 .903 .903 .919

3. Methodology
This research was focused on relationships among students process of study, creative self-efficacy and creativity on University of Science and Technology. The research process as following: A. Research framework According to literature review and hypothesis deduction, this study can reason the possible relationships among the three variables: process of study, creative self-efficacy, and creativity. Following is the possible relationship among three variables as in Figure 1. Creative self-efficacy
H2

1) Process of study questionnaire: In the process of creation, activities involving people, society and nature. This study adopted [21]-[22] revised the "creative developmental factor scale" to develop process of study scale. There was a five-point Likert-type scale ranging from 1= strongly disagree to 5 = strongly agree. The Cronbachs 8 for the scale is .948 as in Table 2. 2) Creativity questionnaire: This study adopted a modified eleven-item scale of self evaluation to assess creativity [6], [20]. There was a five-point scale ranging from 1, not at all characteristic, to 5, very characteristic, the Cronbachs 8 for the scale is .931 as in Table 3. D. Hypotheses to be tested H1: Process of study is positively associated with creativity. H2: Creative self-efficacy will mediated the effects of process of study on creativity.

Process of study

H1

Creativity

Fig. 1 Possible relationship among three variables

B. Participants The sample of this study was recruited from creative thinking and innovation management courses at department of Human Resource Development on Hsiuping University of Science and Technology in central Taiwan, purposive sampling to select about 60 students for the study. C. Instrument According to questionnaire review and modified, this study included three parts of questionnaires: the first part for creative self-efficacy questionnaire, and the second part for process of study questionnaire, the third part for creativity questionnaire as following: 1) Creative self-efficacy questionnaire: Creative self-efficacy is defined as the belief one has the ability to produce creative outcomes [8]. It differs from general self-efficacy as it is creativity -specific. This study adopted an modified eight-item scale of creative self-efficacy according to [18] adapting general self-efficacy developed and validated by [19]-[20]. There was a five-point Likert-type scale ranging from 1= strongly disagree to 5= strongly agree. The Cronbachs 8 for the scale is .919 as in Table 1.

4. Results
After collecting the data, the SPSS 12.0 was used to to gather statistics and analyze data. Statistics methods used include descriptive statistics, reliability analysis, Pearson correlation analysis, regression analysis. A. Respondent Profiles Descriptive statistics was used to illustrate the distribution of background variables. Among the samples, 31.7% of the respondents are male and 68.3 % of the respondents are female. 81.7% of them are first grade students, 18.3% of them are fourth grade students, all of them are students on Hsiuping University of Science and Technology in central Taiwan.

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Cheng et al.: The Relationship of College Students Process of Study and Creativity: Creative Self-Efficacy as a Mediation. TABLE 2 THE RELIABILITY OF PROCESS OF STUDY SCALE Corrected Item-Total Item Correlation 1. Teacher often asked us to think about questions on classroom. .563 2. Teacher often encouraged us to discover problems in daily life. .412 3. Teacher often used discussed teaching methods. .616 4. We often participated discussion of creative activities .600 5. Teacher usually could accept and support our special idea. .609 6. Teacher usually gave us time to think about question when we were .619 required to answer it. 7. Teachers would listen to our thoughts or worries patiently .637 8. Teacher encouraged us to enrich ourselves by more listening, more vision. .673 9. Teacher would encourage us to explore our interest subject. .702 10. Teacher would encourage us to think possible answers first, next to see .556 whether it is right. 11. Teacher would encourage us to think possible solutions for problems and .586 do it practically. 12. Teacher often encourage us to observe things around .667 13. Teacher give us advise with respect .761 14. College provided sufficient material to facilitate us make creative .510 product. 15. College provided adequate equipments to facilitate us to complete .584 creative works. 16. Teacher gave us a lot of opportunities to think. .643 17. We often discuss homework together with students of created experience. .658 18. Teacher often encouraged and praised us. .611 19. Teacher often guide us the techniques and methods of creativity at .747 school. 20. We often learn each other with our peers in the learning process .710 21. Teacher often affirmed us when we completed physical work. .627 22. Teacher often provided us valuable advice when we make practice .774 product. 23. Teacher will accept and support us when we propose new idea. .715 24. Teachers interesting teaching methods improve our creative motivation .636 25. We consider the pipeline of gathering innovation information is very .421 smooth. 26. We often have the experience of solving problem with others .598 27. We can get enough information to integrate existing resources to produce .582 creative works. Total (N=60) TABLE 3 THE RELIABILITY OF CREATIVITY SCALE Corrected Item-Total Item Correlation 1. I will make new method to achieve the purpose or goal. .690 2. I will improve performance with new and practical ideas. .609 3. I will find new processes, ideas, and techniques. .751 4. I will propose a new method to enhance quality. .813 5. I will be a good source of creative ideas. .700 6. I will hold the opportunity to perform creativity on work. .632 7. I will develop appropriate plan to implement new ideas. .670 8. I often have new &creative ideas. .773 9. I will come up with creative ways to solve problems. .747 10. I often have new ways to solve problems. .750 11. I will propose a new method to complete the task .787 Total (N=60)

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Cronbach'sif Item Deleted .947 .948 .946 .946 .946 .946 .946 .946 .945 .947 .947 .946 .945 .948 .947 .946 .946 .946 .945 .945 .946 .945 .945 .946 .948 .946 .947

Alpha value

.948

Cronbach's if Item Deleted .926 .930 .923 .921 .927 .929 .927 .923 .924 .924 .922

Alpha value

.931

B. Pearson Correlation Analysis The Pearson correlation measurement was utilized to examine the correlations among the research variables. The correlations are presented in Table 4. The bivariate correlations indicate that creative self-efficacy and process of study were significantly related to creativity (9= .805, p<.01; and 9=.376, p<.01, respectively).
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TABLE 4 PEARSON CORRELATIONS MEASUREMENT Creative self-efficacy Creative self-efficacy Creativity Process of study 1 .805** .411** 1 .376** 1 Creativity Process of study

**p<.012-tailed significance.

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International Journal of Advanced Computer Science, Vol. 2, No. 3, Pp.105-109, Mar. 2012.

C. Validation of Hypotheses Regression analysis showed the relative importance for different factors and tested the hypothesis. 1) Assessment of hypothesis1: To test the hypotheses, hierarchical regression analyses were conducted. To examine Hypothesis 1, process of study was entered at the first step, creativity last by stepwise regression. The results of column3 in Table 5 indicated that process of study was positively associated with creativity (H1; A=.376**, p<.01). The predictive equation of creativity is listed as follow:
Creativity.376** Process of study+16.888 (Equ. 1)

Therefore, hypothesis 1 is accepted. 2) Assessment of hypothesis2: Hypothesis 2 predicted that there were the positive relationship between process of study and creativity should be mediated with creative self-efficacy. To test this hypothesis, process of study, and creative self-efficacy were entered into a regression equation to predict creativity. Then there were 2 regression equations: one is listed as follow:
Creative self-efficacy.411** Process of study+10.328 (Equ. 2)

The results of column2 in Table 5 indicated that process of study was positively associated with creative self-efficacy (H2; A=.411**, p<.01) and the other is listed as follow:
Creativity.055 Process of study+.782** Creative self-efficacy+6.264 (Equ. 3)

significantly related to creativity. Besides, creative self-efficacy did partial moderation the relationship between process of study and creativity. Nevertheless, the limitation of this study was little samples, only 60 students, so the results could not infer to all of college students. Creativity is the second to none approach for industries to keep the competitive advantage under the current environment, so it is important task for teachers to induce students learning motivation about creativity. We suggest some methods for teachers as follows: Teachers put forward the diffusivity and convergent issues and guide students to think when designed or arranged the learning situation. Teachers should encourage students to think freely and seek creative idea when he asked questions. Teachers designed more different ways for students to learn by doing a practical activity to find a solution for problem. Teachers and students together draw up common evaluation criteria and selected the most appropriate solution, so that creative thinking from the embryonic stage into practical stage. In summary, previous research has supported that processes of study were potential predictors toward creative behavior [22], and results of the current study show process of study had a direct positive prediction in creativity. Besides, though creative self-efficacy partial mediation effects, process of study had an indirect positive prediction. Thus, it is serious issue for teachers to lead students have confidence in their ability of executing their creativity in the future.

Acknowledgment
The authors gratefully acknowledge the improved comments and suggestions of the reviewers.

The results of column 4 in Table 5 indicated that t Process of study A value from .411** reduced to .055 after Creative self-efficacy factor was added. Therefore Creative self-efficacy partially mediated the relationship between process of study and creativity. In sum, the hypothesis 2 is partially accepted.
TABLE 5 HIERARCHICAL REGRESSION OF HYPOTHESIS 2 Creative Self-efficacy Creativity Mode 1 Mode 2 Process of study .411** .376** .055 Creative self-efficacy .782** R2 .169 .142 .651 Adjusted R2 .155 .127 .638 F value 11.799 9.578 53.051 P value .001 .003 .000 **p<.012-tailed significance.

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5. Conclusion and Suggestion

This study proposed to find the relationships among process of study, creative self-efficacy and creativity. Thus, this study tested whether process of study is conducive to creativity and tested whether creative self-efficacy moderated the relationship between process of study and creativity. This research found that process of study was

[8]

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