Association between creative self-efficacy and innovation literacy among undergraduate nursing students: a...

Healthcare professionals frequently encounter unanticipated workplace challenges, positioning innovation literacy as an essential competency for career advancement. As future practitioners, undergraduate nursing students require adequate innovation literacy to support the optimization of clinical nursing practice and nursing education. This study aimed to explore the association between creative self-efficacy and innovation literacy, and to investigate the potential sequential correlational roles of active learning state and social capital in this relationship.

A cross-sectional questionnaire survey was conducted among 337 undergraduate nursing students using internationally validated psychometric scales. Hierarchical regression and the PROCESS macro (Model 6) were applied to examine a sequential correlational framework, while demographic variables were controlled for as potential con founders.

The hypothesized sequential correlational framework was statistically supported. Creative self-efficacy showed a positive correlation with innovation literacy through a direct path (β = 0.315) and via two distinct sequential indirect links. The first path involved active learning state only (indirect link = 0.221), accounting for 33.48% of the total association. The second sequential path proceeded from active learning state to social capital (indirect relation = 0.080), accounting for 12.12% of the total association. Additionally, social capital showed an independent correlational path (indirect link = 0.044, contributing 6.67% to the total association). The overall framework accounted for 68.6% of the variance in innovation literacy.

This study identified notable correlational links between creative self-efficacy and innovation literacy among undergraduate nursing students. Active learning state and social capital functioned as sequential intermediate variables within this correlational relationship. The findings suggest that targeted cultivation of creative self-efficacy, together with facilitating active learning and social capital accumulation, is associated with higher innovation literacy. These findings point to the potential value of educational strategies that foster these factors in relation to innovation literacy development.