Enhancing the effects of creativity training for business school students through art-based methods and blended learning

Abstract

Purpose

The content of training (art-based method) and instructional strategies (blended learning) can improve business school students' creativity and attempts to determine how training can be maintained using longitudinal tracking. The study aims to answer (1) whether the incorporation of art-based methods enhances the creativity of students compared to traditional face-to-face (F2F) teaching, and (2) whether such creative training and blended teaching methods have a higher transfer of training.

Design/methodology/approach

This study adopted a two-stage design (1) it adopted a 2 × 2 (with or without art-based methods * blended teaching or F2F teaching) between-subject design of experiments with 221 participants and (2) a one-year follow-up study was conducted (participants who were employed for 6 months to one year after graduation) with 187 participants and their directors.

Findings

The results showed that the inclusion of art-based methods in the creative training of students strengthens creative ability of the students; there were no significant differences between blended and traditional learning. The authors examined the effect of transferring creative training through a questionnaire analysis of participants and employers of the participants. Self-regulated and self-directed learning positively influence motivation to transfer, which positively influences creative performance.

Originality/value

The higher the level of self-regulated and self-directed learning of students, the more effective the transfer of creative training is over time.

Citation

Kuo, T.-H. and Tien, H.-K. (2022), "Enhancing the effects of creativity training for business school students through art-based methods and blended learning", Education + Training, Vol. 64 No. 5, pp. 642-661. https://doi.org/10.1108/ET-07-2021-0282