Boosting creative self-efficacy: implementing online creativity training in the university classroom

Can students improve their sense of creative self-efficacy using online skill development modules? Despite our strong desire to graduate students who are creatively capable, we lack sufficient research on the effectiveness of various approaches to developing creativity-relevant processes in higher education. This study investigated whether online creativity training modules might be an effective way to help fourth year undergraduate students develop their sense of creative self-efficacy, and their preparedness for the application of creativity-relevant processes in professional contexts. A thematic analysis of interviews with senior marketing students who completed a series of online and asynchronous modules suggests that integrating online creativity training into existing pedagogy can significantly enhance students' confidence in, and capacity for, the forms of creativity required in future marketing careers. Findings indicate that marketing students who took part in this form of creativity training reported four key benefits: they felt more equipped to find new and novel solutions to unfamiliar challenges, they were able to imagine ways to apply their newly acquired creative capacities to pre-professional contexts, they reported an increased sense of creative self-efficacy, and they developed the ability to articulate their creative capacities when describing their preparedness for professional work. This study of a pilot program contributes to the limited literature on creativity training in higher education and offers a comprehensive implementation plan for marketing educators aiming to foster creative skills necessary for future careers.