Moderating effects of task interdependence on interaction behaviours and creativity for nursing students on...

Area of Science:

• Nursing Education
• Team Dynamics
• Creativity Studies

Background:

• Interdisciplinary teams are crucial for nursing students in Taiwan to develop healthcare products.
• Creativity is essential for student success, yet relational precursors in nursing education remain under-explored.
• Existing research has not investigated the link between interaction behaviors, task interdependence, and team creativity in this context.

Purpose of the Study:

• To examine the relationship between task interdependence, interaction behaviors (constructive controversy, helping behaviors, spontaneous communication), and team creativity among Taiwanese nursing students.
• To investigate whether high task interdependence moderates the associations between interaction behaviors and creativity in interdisciplinary nursing student teams.

Main Methods:

• A descriptive, cross-sectional, quantitative study was conducted with 99 nursing students in Taiwan.
• Data were collected via self-report questionnaires on demographics, task interdependence, interaction behaviors, and creativity.
• Statistical analyses included Pearson's correlation coefficient and SPSS PROCESS macro for moderating effects.

Main Results:

• Task interdependence positively correlated with all measured interaction behaviors and team creativity.
• All interaction behaviors (constructive controversy, helping behaviors, spontaneous communication) positively correlated with team creativity.
• High task interdependence negatively moderated the relationship between team creativity and constructive controversy, and spontaneous communication, but not helping behaviors.

Conclusions:

• The findings support a moderation model where task interdependence influences the impact of interaction behaviors on creativity.
• Nursing educators can enhance student creativity by promoting task interdependence and helping behaviors.
• Teaching students to effectively utilize constructive controversy and spontaneous communication within collaborative plans is recommended to foster creativity.