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What affects PhD student creativity in China? A case study from the Joint Training Pilot Project

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Abstract

To understand the factors and their influencing mechanisms on PhD students’ creativity, we propose an extended scientific and technical human capital (STHC) model to examine the structural relationships among different sources of social capital, psychological capital, and PhD students’ creativity and to test the moderating role of gender, industry experience, and interdisciplinary experience on the structural model. Data are collected from 201 respondents enrolled in the Joint Training Pilot Project (JTPP) in 2010 and 2011. The results show that (1) university social capital has a significant direct influence on PhD students’ creativity, while industry social capital has no significant direct effect; (2) psychological capital partially mediates the relationship between university social capital and creativity and fully mediates the industry social capital and creativity linkage; and (3) gender, industry experience, and interdisciplinary experience moderate several paths. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed, and recommended directions for future research are suggested.

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Funding

This study was funded by the Humanity and Social Science Youth Foundation of Ministry of Education of China (grant number 17YJC880072), the Beijing Social Science Fund Research Base Project (grant number 18JDJYB007, 16JDJYA001), and the Program for Rixin Talents of Beijing University of Technology (grant number 103000514118003).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Capital Research and Development Center for Engineering Education, Institute of Higher Education, Beijing University of Technology, No. 100, Pingleyuan, Chaoyang District, Beijing, People’s Republic of China

    Xianwei Liu & Wei Gao

  2. School of Business, Renmin University of China, No. 59, Zhongguancun Street, Haidian District, Beijing, People’s Republic of China

    Yang Zou

  3. Institute of Higher Education, Beihang University, No. 37, Xueyuan Road, Haidian District, Beijing, People’s Republic of China

    Yonghong Ma

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  1. Xianwei Liu
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Liu, X., Zou, Y., Ma, Y. et al. What affects PhD student creativity in China? A case study from the Joint Training Pilot Project. High Educ 80, 37–56 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-019-00463-8

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