AI Insight
This study of 1,789 vocational university students in Guangdong Province found that school innovation climate significantly predicts students' innovative behavior, with career calling and learning engagement serving as mediators that account for 41% of the indirect effect. Students' sense of meaning in life strengthened these relationships, particularly enhancing how innovation climate influences career calling, learning engagement, and innovative behavior. The research identifies a moderated chain mediation model showing that institutional climate works through psychological and behavioral pathways to foster innovation.
Why it matters
The findings provide actionable guidance for vocational institutions seeking to cultivate innovative talent by creating supportive innovation climates and helping students develop career purpose and meaning. Understanding these pathways enables targeted interventions that go beyond environmental factors to address students' psychological engagement with innovation.
Understand the Science
IntroductionCultivating innovative technical talents and stimulating students’ innovative behavior are core objectives of high-quality vocational education. This study aims to examine the internal mechanism linking school innovation climate to innovative behavior among vocational university students.MethodsA moderated chain mediation model was adopted as the analytical framework. Cross-sectional questionnaire data were gathered from 1,789 vocational university students in Guangdong Province with five validated measurement scales, and regression analysis was performed to test the hypothesized model.ResultsSchool innovation climate exhibited a significant positive correlation with students’ innovative behavior. Career calling and learning engagement played independent and serial mediating roles, jointly accounting for a total indirect effect of 41.08%. Meaning in life positively moderated three key paths: innovation climate → career calling (β = 0.14, p < .001), innovation climate → learning engagement (β = 0.09, p < .001), and innovation climate → innovative behavior (β = 0.14, p < .001). All correlational relationships became stronger when students reported higher meaning in life.DiscussionThe results clarify the chained mediating and moderating pathways between innovation climate and students’ innovative behavior. This research provides theoretical references and practical intervention strategies for innovation education and the cultivation of innovative skilled talents in vocational colleges.