Is There a Developmental Slump in Creativity in China? The Relationship Between Organizational Climate and Creativity Development in Chinese Adolescents

• Published in: The Journal of creative behavior Vol. 47; no. 1; pp. 22 - 40
• Main Authors: Yi, Xinfa, Hu, Weiping, Plucker, Jonathan A., McWilliams, Jenna
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01-03-2013; Wiley-Blackwell
• Subjects: Adolescents; Age Differences; China; Creative Development; creative organizational climate; Creative Thinking; creativity development; Educational Environment; Elementary School Students; Elementary School Teachers; Elementary Schools; Foreign Countries; Middle School Students; Middle School Teachers; Middle Schools; Organizational Climate; Path Analysis; Preadolescents; the Beijing test of creative thinking; China
• ISSN: 0022-0175; 2162-6057
• DOI: 10.1002/jocb.21

The major objectives of this study were to determine the characteristics of creativity development of Chinese children, the creative organizational climate of Chinese schools, and the relations among them. The results provided evidence that the creativity scores of children in elementary school were significantly higher than those of children in middle school. The teachers' evaluation of the creative organizational climate of the elementary school was significantly higher than that of the middle school. When the two variables were analyzed together, both the creative organizational climate of schools and the creative thinking development of children decreased during the children's development. Moreover, the creativity and climate scores were highly correlated, and the results from a path analysis suggested that a school's creative organizational climate has a significant impact on all seven dimensions of creativity measured in this study.