Academic buoyancy and self-regulated learning among doctoral students: The mediating roles of creativity-generating research styles

Self-regulated learning among doctoral students is essential for their transition from students to independent and creative scholars. More importantly, it fosters a lifelong learning mindset that enhances their creativity and competitiveness in the knowledge economy. The present study investigated the predictive role of academic buoyancy in self-regulated learning and the mediating roles of research styles in this relationship, controlling for age and gender. Two hundred and three doctoral students in China’s Greater Bay Area provided their demographic information and responded to three inventories: the Academic Buoyancy Scale, the Research Styles Inventory, and the Academic Self-Regulation Scale. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses showed that academically buoyant doctoral students used self-regulated strategies (memory strategy, goal setting, and learning responsibility) more frequently. Structural equation modelling revealed that the three creativity-generating research styles (legislative, hierarchical, and liberal) mediated the relationship between academic buoyancy and three categories of self-regulated learning, while the three norm-conforming research styles (executive, conservative, and monarchic) did not mediate this relationship. These findings highlight the importance of academic buoyancy and creativity-generating research styles in doctoral students’ learning and have practical implications for doctoral students, their supervisors, and university senior managers in their efforts to enhance doctoral students’ self-regulated learning.