The dynamics of creative agency: Insights from two intensive diary studies on university students

Background

Creative processes and actions are driven not only by people's abilities but also by their confidence and readiness to invest effort.

Aims

This intensive, daily-diary investigation (two studies, total N_participants = 362, N_measurements = 8322 over three and four weeks) explored how students’ self-perception (creative confidence) and self-regulation—two aspects of creative agency—shape the likelihood of undertaking creative action.

Samples

Study 1 included 234 university students (5923 student-day units); Study 2 included 128 university students (2399 student-day units).

Methods

In Study 1, participants completed daily diary measurements over four weeks, reporting on their creative self-perception and engagement in creative activities. Using dynamic structural equation modeling (DSEM), we analyzed cross-day lagged associations between creative activity and confidence. In Study 2, students completed daily diaries during a three-week creative project while receiving either self-regulation-enhancing prompts (experimental group) or no additional support (control group). Multilevel regression analyses estimated differences in students’ creative self-perception and creative engagement resulting from strengthened self-regulation.

Results

Study 1 showed a robust effect of the previous day's creative activity on the next day's confidence, and no effect of confidence on activity. In Study 2, students whose self-regulation was activated reported higher creative confidence and task-specific creative self-efficacy than the control group and engaged more in creative activities in everyday settings.

Conclusions

These findings shed light on the role of perceived agency for creative action and the dynamic interplay of self-beliefs and self-regulation. They also open avenues for developing brief interventions to make creativity more salient in students’ everyday in- and out-of-school settings.