Journal of Hospitality, Leisure, Sport & Tourism Education 21 (2017) 69–82

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Journal of Hospitality,
Leisure, Sport & Tourism Education
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jhlste

Remodelling progress in tourism and hospitality students’ MARK

creativity through social capital and transformational leadership
⁎
Chih-Hsing Sam Liu
Ming Chuan University, Department of Leisure & Recreation Management, 5 De Ming Rd., Gui Shan District, Taoyuan County 333, Taiwan

AR TI CLE I NF O AB S T R A CT

Keywords: This study used statistical analyses such as structural equation modelling (SEM) and regression
Transformational leadership analysis to demonstrate how both transformational leadership and social capital influence
Social capital creativity. A mediation-moderate model design reveals social capital and knowledge sharing as
Knowledge management critical mediation attributes that connect the relationships between transformational leadership
Creativity
and creativity. The three-way interaction results also suggest that interaction frequency is the
Social network
most important dimension for increasing creativity by creating both knowledge sharing and a co-
operative culture in the learning environment. Several alternative models were used to confirm
the model fit of this study.

1. Introduction

Individual creativity can be a powerful tool for measuring job performance (Esch, Wei, & Chiang, 2016) and customer satisfaction
(Miao & Wang, 2016), creating organizational competitiveness (Gong, Cheung, Wang, & Huang, 2012; Wang, Tsai, & Tsai, 2014) and
supporting organizational knowledge management and innovation (Amabile, 1996; Gumusluoglu & Ilsev, 2009; Sigala & Chalkiti,
2015). Creativity education is a foundation for developing an industry's future human resources, which should be a first-priority
educational goal in the new millennium (Tsai, Horng, Liu, Hu, & Chung, 2015; Wyse & Ferrari, 2015). Especially in the tourism and
hospitality industries, organizations experience a dynamic environment characterized by rapidly changing customer needs, shortened
service and product life cycles, and globalization (Chaisawat, 2006; Kennedy & Dornan, 2009; Robinson & Beesley, 2010), all of
which require universities to introduce new creativity concepts both to develop students’ practical experiences and to encourage their
creativity in generating new products and services that can not only survive and grow but also cope with the new requirements of a
competitive and complex environment (Li & Liu, 2016). Although understanding how to develop student creativity is one of the
primary goals in this study, many scholars have also increasingly called attention to identifying critical attributes of educational
environments and learning effectiveness (Ali, Nair, & Hussain, 2016). In conclusion, identifying these critical attributes of creativity
not only supports traditional education but also complements new forms of learning by using social perspectives to encourage the
motivation that supports the process through which students generate creativity (Fischer, Oget, & Cavallucci, 2016; Wyse & Ferrari,
2015).
Interest is growing in the influence of leadership on students’ creativity, innovative thinking and problem solving (Drapeau,
2014). Supervisor support or teacher's positive attitudes may encourage students to generate novel, useful ideas to meet the re-
quirements of the industry (Sobaih & Moustafa, 2016). Sobaih and Moustafa (2016) also suggested that in developing countries,
hospitality and tourism educators may build a learning environment and support students in developing their personal relationships
to connect, communicate, and cooperate with other students to share new information, ideas, knowledge and experiences. Thus,

⁎
Corresponding author.
E-mail address: phd20110909@gmail.com.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jhlste.2017.08.003
Received 10 December 2016; Received in revised form 16 May 2017; Accepted 8 August 2017
1473-8376/ © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
C.-H. Sam Liu Journal of Hospitality, Leisure, Sport & Tourism Education 21 (2017) 69–82

transformational leadership is gradually becoming an effective weapon to enhance students’ creativity, especially in the face of
market competition and evolving customer needs (Tsai et al., 2015). Therefore, it is critical to understand the creativity-generation
process with regard to the contextual factors of transformational leadership and social learning attributes for creative performance in
learning environment settings that involve higher education. Recently, researchers have raised the importance of social networks and
leadership on creativity (Chow & Chan, 2008; Fischer et al., 2016). However, few studies have examined the effects of the learning
environment and other attributes, such as interaction frequency, cultural co-operation, social capital and knowledge sharing, on
student creativity. Therefore, the primary purpose of the present study was to determine the effects of multiple dimensions of the
learning environment and to demonstrate how these attributes influence creativity among tourism and hospitality students.
Although research on the learning environment and student behaviour provides important insights into creativity studies and
tourism and hospitality education, several unanswered questions remain. First, what critical attribute of the learning environment is
likely to build relationships, both directly and indirectly, that promote values of creativity? This question has largely been over-
looked, perhaps because of the limited definition of learning environment used in prior studies. From the perspective of the creativity
generation process, Li and Liu (2016) asserted that creativity involves both individual processes and social processes in the learning
environment. The present study proposes that transformational leadership can not only help students accumulate social capital but
also encourage knowledge sharing, which enables students’ accumulation of useful ideas in anticipation of creativity generation.
Additionally, previous studies have evaluated the effects of social networks on creativity in Western countries (Sigala & Chalkiti,
2015; Sobaih & Moustafa, 2016), and it is unclear whether their findings would hold in an Eastern context, especially in tourism and
hospitality higher education. The development of co-operative cultural and personal relations is likely to be particularly important in
Chinese society (Ooi, Hooy, & Som, 2015). Furthermore, interpersonal relationships and interactions may serve as a means to
strengthen the resolve to engage in knowledge sharing and therefore may improve creativity because they promote trust and frequent
interaction with other students (Campopiano, Minola, & Sainaghi, 2016).
This study assesses the degree to which transformational leadership and social networks function together to influence student
creativity (see Fig. 1). It proposes that transformational leadership helps students develop social capital through knowledge sharing to
generate more novel ideas or solutions to problems that directly influence creativity. The study also proposes that the social network
context, which is composed of both a co-operative culture and interaction frequency, directly increases the speed of knowledge
sharing, which then indirectly influences creativity. In sum, the context of a college classroom with a positive learning environment
composed of up-down relationships and a social context should result in increased learning motivation, emotional support, knowl-
edge sharing, and overall creativity performance among students.

2. Theoretical background and hypothesis development

2.1. The role of social capital and knowledge sharing as mediators

Transformational leadership refers to a leadership style that increases the creation of followers’ emotional links with their in-
terests, inspires higher values, and helps students accomplish their collective goals (García-Morales, Jiménez-
Barrionuevo, & Gutiérrez-Gutiérrez, 2012). Recently, transformational leadership has attracted a great deal of attention in the higher
education field because it inspires students’ innovative thinking, enhancing their mutual learning and creativity skills (Spendlove,
2007). An increasing number of studies suggest that strategic leadership can either navigate the dynamic environment or constrain
social capital accumulation (Bodin & Crona, 2008; McCallum & O'Connell, 2009; Zacharakis & Flora, 2005). Educators’ perceptions of
their inspirational role in the classroom strongly influence their ability to promote both leadership in the learning environment and
mutual trust among students.
Chen L (2016) suggest that transformational leadership, inspirational individual learning motivation and idealized behaviours
incentivize the construction of internal and external social capital to sharpen people's boundary-spanning abilities. Consequently,
leaders help their followers develop social capital through the encouragement of learning-network behaviours, including information
exchange, idea generation and knowledge sharing (Anderson & Sun, 2015). In a study of undergraduate students, Choi (2004) reveals
that transformational leadership contextual factors not only influences students’ self-efficacy and creativity intention but also creates
a direct link among individual ties, mutual trust and shared goals. Thus, transformational leadership generates socio-psychological

Interaction
frequency
Network Mutual Shared
ties trust goals
Cooperative
H4 Culture
H2
H3
Transformational Social Knowledge
Creativity
Leadership Capital sharing

H1
Fig. 1. Conceptual model of hypothesized relationships.

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effects among students and affects student engagement with school (Leithwood & Jantzi, 2000). Integrated with the above literature
of transformational leadership in higher education, this study defines transformation leadership as “approaches to leadership that
emphasize emotions and values with the aim of fostering learning effectiveness and higher levels of personal interaction to achieve
learning goals”. Consequently, educators who implement a transformational leadership style in the classroom can encourage stu-
dents’ knowledge sharing through the accumulation of social capital. Thus, we propose that social capital mediates between
transformational leadership and students’ knowledge sharing.
The purpose of knowledge sharing is to create new knowledge; therefore, people must both supply and generate demand for new
knowledge. Therefore, individuals must generate new knowledge by mutually exchanging their tacit and explicit knowledge or useful
information with partners (Lefebvre, Sorenson, Henchion, & Gellynck, 2016), as De Vries, Van den Hooff, and de Ridder (2006,
p.120) assert that job-related attributes are an important motivation for sharing knowledge with co-workers and team members. In
the setting of a learning environment, job-related attributes are determined by how individuals enhance knowledge sharing among
the members of their network either by trusting other employees or the quality of the network (Lefebvre et al., 2016), and network-
based course design provides a learning environment with interactivity, connectivity and convergence, which will enhance students’
knowledge-sharing opportunities and provide a catalyst for future educational transformation (Sigala, 2002). In other words, social
capital is a resource of social relationships and an invisible source for students’ resource acquisition in the future (Campopiano et al.,
2016). Thus, the accumulation of social capital in the classroom provides positive social norms of nurturing trust and cohesion, which
provides students with easy access to resources and allows them to share useful knowledge, generating creativity (Casquero, Ovelar,
Romo, Benito, & Alberdi, 2016). Normally, when performing creative ideas in problem solving, students not only need to know the
effective ways to execute a task but also need to identify which attributes may systematically instruct them to effectively integrate
with different tasks (Cheng, 2011). In this situation, De Clercq, Dimov, and Thongpapanl (2013) posit that social capital will posi-
tively affect individual motivation and the knowledge-sharing behaviour that results. Consequently, when students build individual
ties, mutual trust and shared goals, they are more willing to share their knowledge with other students because of their common
interests in the classroom, thus eventually increasing their ability not only to solve problems but also to reformulate problems and
solutions. Thus, we argue that social capital is positively related to an individual's creativity through knowledge sharing with other
students or other team members in the classroom.
Hypothesis 1. Social capital positively mediates the relationship between transformational leadership and knowledge transfer.
Hypothesis 2. Knowledge transfer positively mediates the relationship between social capital and creativity.

2.2. The role of interaction frequency and a co-operative culture as mediators

According to the knowledge-based view, knowledge is the most important resource for individual competitiveness because it both
creates and offers new opportunities (Dong, Bartol, Zhang, & Li, 2016). Gilson, Lim, Luciano, and Choi (2013) argue that mutual trust
is helpful in transferring knowledge and useful information, which should be beneficial for creativity. Mutual trust comes from
interaction frequency: when employees’ interaction increases, their interdependent partners’ care, concern and well-being also in-
creases, which in turn increases the effectiveness of knowledge transfer and generates new and useful ideas (Cheung, Gong,
Wang, & Shi, 2016). Unlike other individual performance indices, creative ideas generate the need to exchange knowledge, in-
formation, and experiences with others, thereby creating new services and products to attract new customers and satisfy their
changeable, sophisticated demands (Hu, Horng, & Sun, 2009). Zhang and Zhou (2014) also recognize that network interaction and
information sharing is the most important attribute in the generation of truly creative ideas.
Additionally, the construction of a co-operative culture can make employees feel comfortable and provides opportunities for them
to more successfully embed themselves into organization networks (Shore, Bernstein, & Lazer, 2015). Organizational co-operative
culture is composed of and widely shares values, symbols, behaviours, and assumptions, which can facilitate employees’ interaction
and communication of knowledge and are closely linked to improving creativity performance (Hahn, Lee, & Lee, 2015). From an
educational perspective, Margolis and Parboosingh (2015) have used the example of a Continuing Medical Education Cardiology
course, suggesting that a co-operative culture enables an assessment of the frequency, timeliness, and accuracy of idea interaction and
exchange among group members; moreover, it improves their ability to conduct complex analyses and solve problems, share tacit
knowledge, build interpersonal relationships, and collectively create goals. Ma and Rapee (2015) note that basic knowledge and skills
sharing can be elaborated through questioning, experiments, and expression of personal perspectives; moreover, interaction and the
exchange of ideas can enhance students’ critical thinking. Furthermore, Sigala and Chalkiti (2015) use the “cognitive processes”
perspective, suggesting that creativity is positively associated not only with involvement in internal cognitive processes of searching,
examining and store information but also with participation in external cognitive processes of sharing, exchanging and co-creating
information. Thus, through knowledge sharing, interaction and a co-operative culture, students not only enable the implementation
of a high number of shared goals but also enhance members’ mutual trust for collaborative problem solving and sharing of new
information and valuable experience to build a climate that supports creativity.
Hypothesis 3. Interaction frequency moderates the positive relationship between knowledge transfer and creativity.
Hypothesis 4. There is a three-way interaction between knowledge transfer, interaction frequency and co-operative culture: the level of
creativity is highest when all three dimensions are high.

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3. Method

3.1. Sampling

The sample for this study was drawn from the student lists of the various hospitality and tourism departments in Taiwan and
China. Although Taiwan and China have been politically separate for over sixty years, communication and interaction among aca-
demics have not ended. Therefore, the collection of samples from different regions provided another educational extension. During
the sample selection process, the study first selected a target sample of hospitality and tourism students. Second, academic employees
or teachers were asked to use their personal relationships to help collect data during their classes. Third, several research assistants
were hired to follow up the data collection procedure through email or phone calls to promote the data-collection process and
increase the response rate. Fourth, after the data collection was complete, the research assistants checked and deleted unusable
questionnaires that had either missing values or the same values for the entire questionnaire. One thousand questionnaires were
distributed, with 932 effective responses (e.g., Taiwan 528; China 404) across five types of tourism and hospitality departments: the
Department of Food and Beverage Management (299), the Department of Hospitality Management (246), the Department of Tourism
Management (167), the Department of Leisure and Recreation Management (113), and other related tourism and hospitality de-
partments (107). 341 of the students were male, and 591 were female.

3.2. Measures

The properties of the main research constructs in the proposed model were tested using a regression analysis and Structural
Equation Modelling (SEM) to test causal relationships among hypothetical constructs. Multiple items were used to operationalize all
of the constructs used in this study. A 7-point Likert scale from 1 (totally disagree) to 7 (totally agree) was used to measure the items.

3.2.1. Social capital

Social capital was modified by Chow and Chan (2008) and was separated into three sub-dimensions: network ties, mutual trust,
and shared goals. Social capital was then measured using eight items to reflect students’ creativity-enhancing network activities with
their classmates. The composite reliability (CR) and average variance extracted (AVE) for the three sub-dimensions of social capital
are network ties (CR=.643; AVE=.843), mutual trust (CR=.589; AVE=.811), and shared goals (CR=.613; AVE=.825), as shown in
Table 1, which are above the recommended values (e.g., CR > .500; AVE > .600) and suggest convergent validity.

3.2.2. Transformational leadership

Transformational leadership was adapted from McColl-Kennedy and Anderson (2002) and measured using four items to portray
students’ perceptions of teachers’ attention, assignment, and interest encouragement. The values of CR=.665 and AVE.887 of
transformational leadership are above the recommended values and suggest convergent validity.

3.2.3. Interaction frequency

Extending prior research (Anderson & West, 1998; Chen, 2011) and keeping students in mind, interaction frequency was mea-
sured using four items to describe students’ formal and informal interactions. The values of CR=.625 and AVE.869 of interaction
frequency are above the recommended values and suggest convergent validity.

3.2.4. Creativity
Creativity was measured using seven items by Rice (2006) that refer to how students generate new ideas or solutions. The values
of CR=.587 and AVE.908 of creativity are above the recommended values and suggest convergent validity.

3.2.5. Knowledge sharing

Knowledge sharing was adapted from Schepers and Van den Berg (2007), using five items to describe feedback, experience and
knowledge sharing among students. The values of CR=.590 and AVE=.877 of knowledge sharing are above the recommended values
and suggest convergent validity.

3.2.6. Cooperative culture

Cooperative culture is based on existing research (Cameron & Quinn, 1999; Cameron et al., 1999) and measured using four items
to describe a class’ co-operative atmosphere. The values of CR=.625 and AVE=.869 of cooperative culture are above the re-
commended values and suggest convergent validity.
The specific measurements of these constructs’ reliability and convergent validity can be found in Table 1.

3.3. Reliability and validity of the measures

As shown in Table 1, the composite reliability (CR) and average variance extracted (AVE) for all of the variables was more than
50%, confirming that all of the measuring scales demonstrate fitting convergent validity (Ali et al., 2016). The values of CR and AVE
provide a credible test of the measures’ internal stability and convergent validity (Ali et al., 2016; Yang, Cheung, & Song, 2016). The
results of this study indicate high levels of construct reliability for the variables: Fetscherin and Stephano (2016) assert that when

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Table 1
Questionnaire and values of reliability and convergent validity of dimensions.

Measurement items Factor Loading CR1 AVE2

Network ties: Chow and Chan (2008) .643 .843

• In general, I have a very good relationship with my classmates. .722
• In general, I am very close to my classmates. .834
• I always hold lengthy discussions with my classmates.
Mutual trust: Chow and Chan (2008)
.844
.589 .811
• I know my classmates will always try to help me if I experience difficulties. .739
• I can always trust my classmates to help when I am in need. .769
• I can always rely on my classmates to make my homework easier.
Shared goals: Chow and Chan (2008)
.794
.613 .825
• My classmates and I always agree on what is important in class. .852
• My classmates and I always share the same vision of class. .704
• My classmates and I are always enthusiastic about pursing collective goals and missions.
Transformational leadership: García-Morales et al. (2012); McColl-Kennedy and Anderson (2002)
.786
.665 .887
• Gives personal attention to each student representative. .817
• Transmits a sense of assignment to students. .891
• Increases student level of interest. .838
• Emphasizes the use of student intelligence.
Interaction frequency: Anderson and West (1998); Chen (2011)
.704
.625 .869
• I keep in touch with classmates as a friend. .768
• I keep in regular contact with classmates. .734
• My classmates and I frequently talk, both formally and informally. .823
• My classmates and I frequently interact.
Creativity: Rice (2006)
.834
.587 .908
• My teacher and classmates feel that I am creative in class. .723
• I always experiment with new approaches to doing homework. .674
• I am on the lookout for new ideas from classmates. .759
• I believe that I am very creative in class. .752
• I try to be as creative as I can with my assignments. .834
• I would like to learn some new solutions that will help me be more effective. .819
• When I perform well, I know that it is because of my own desire to achieve.
Knowledge sharing: Schepers & Van den Berg, 2007
.792
.590 .877
• Inexperienced newcomers are coached by experienced classmates. .842
• The coaching of new classmates is well coordinated in our class. .736
• Experienced classmates provide constructive feedback on the work of less-experienced classmates. .817
• In this class, I know who I can contact about specific questions. .793
• Experienced classmates help others by giving examples.
Cooperative culture: Cameron and Quinn (1999); Cameron, Quinn, and Tromp (1999)
.634
.625 .869
• My class's teacher is generally considered to be a mentor or parental figure. .823
• The glue that holds my class together is loyalty and trust. .873
• My class is like an extended family: classmates seem to share a lot of themselves .734
• High cohesion and morale in the class are important. .722

CR1: Composite Reliability.

AVE2: Average Variance Extracted.

Table 2
Descriptive statistics (e.g., mean, standard deviation (SD)) and Pearson correlation coefficient.

Variables Mean SD 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 VIF Normality Test

Skewness Kurtosis

1. Creativity 4.686 .933 (.907) – .025 .149

2. Transformational leadership 4.764 .957 .558 (.885) 1.81 .795 .005
Social Capital
3. Network ties 4.721 .934 .701 .599 (.835) 2.87 .029 .041
4. Mutual trust 4.972 .968 .660 .564 .759 (.808) 3.05 .003 .923
5. Shared goals 5.017 .935 .569 .572 .667 .716 (.819) 2.41 .935 .001
6. Knowledge sharing 4.667 .960 .551 .442 .521 .478 .430 (.876) 2.06 .000 .010
7. Interaction frequency 5.007 .875 .583 .514 .565 .596 .569 .568 (.830) 2.01 .510 .030
8. Cooperative culture 4.622 .906 .452 .427 .469 .440 .372 .639 .490 (.884) 1.83 .000 .141

VIF: Variance Inflation Factor.

Note: Correlations greater than |.372| are significant at p < .05.

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values of CR and AVE are equal to or higher than the corresponding threshold, the square of the correlation estimate is needed when
considering discriminant validity. As Table 1 shows, the CR and AVE for all of the variables exceeded the squared correlation between
the pairs of measuring scales; therefore, these constructs both reflect student creativity and are closely interlinked with other
variables of the learning environment. Furthermore, the lack of discriminant validity among the variables measured in this study does
not inhibit the analysis.

4. Results

Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were used to validate all of this study's variables (Salunke,
Weerawardena, & McColl-Kennedy, 2013). First, the purpose of the exploratory factor analysis was to confirm the uni-dimensionality
of variables. After thorough principal-axis factoring and an oblimin rotation process, the analysis confirmed uni-dimensionality for
social capital, network ties, mutual trust, and shared goals. Second, a confirmatory factor analysis tested factor structure similarity
and reliability across studies that used SEM. The values of Cronbach's alpha range from .808 to .907, meaning that all of the scales
were far above the acceptable level.
Table 2 gives an overview of the basic descriptive statistics (e.g., Mean, SD, alpha and results of normality test) and Pearson
correlation coefficients for measuring the variables used in this study. Furthermore, because of the observation of high correlations
between variables, a multi-collinearity concern is raised. To avoid collinearity the values of the variance inflation factor (VIF) are
tested. As shown in Table 2, the maximum value of VIF is 3.05 (i.e., below 10), which removes a strong collinear concern that the
inflation of standard errors affects this study's results (Godart, Maddux, Shipilov, & Galinsky, 2015).
All of this study's hypotheses were tested within the conceptual models of the learning environment of transformational lea-
dership and social capital (which can influence creativity) and are presented in Fig. 1 using SEM through AMOS 18 software
(Wong & Teoh, 2015). The model fit values and measured followed the suggestions of Hair, Halle, Terry-Humen, Lavelle, and Calkins
(2006), who use the goodness-of-fit index (GFI), adjusted goodness-of-fit index (AGFI), normed fit index (NFI), comparative fit index
(CFI), incremental fit index (IFI), and root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) to evaluate the structural model fit. The
recommended values for an acceptable model fit for GFI, AGFI, NFI, CFI, and IFI were higher than .9, and the recommended value for
RMSEA was lower than the recommended .08 (Chen, 2013; Kim, Lee, & Prideaux, 2014). The structural model for samples is shown in
Fig. 2, which represents an acceptable fit (χ2=1081.263, χ2/df=4.019, CFI=.943, AGFI=.890, GFI=.914, IFI=.934,
RMSEA=.072).
Fig. 2 illustrates the results for the standardized path estimates and hypothesized model fits of the structural model. Hypothesis 1
proposed that social capital positively mediates the relationships between transformational leadership and knowledge transfer.
Consistent with this hypothesis, transformational leadership was positively related to social capital (β=.720; p > .001), whereas
social capital was positively related to knowledge transfer (β=.720; p > .001). Thus, Hypothesis 1 was supported. As predicted in
Hypothesis 2, the results found a significant positive indirect effect of social capital on creativity mediated by knowledge transfer
(β=.405; p > .001), thus supporting Hypothesis 2.
Table 3 presents the results of ordinary least squares (OLS) regression analysis predicting moderate variables of knowledge
transfer, interaction frequency and co-operative culture and dependent variables of creativity performance. Generally, the findings
suggest that the constructs are largely correlated in the theoretically predicted manner. Model 1 is based on a model that captures the
direct effects of knowledge transfer, interaction frequency and co-operative culture on creativity. The model is significant at the p <
.001 level and R2 = .388. The linkage between knowledge transfer (β =.459, p < .01), interaction frequency (β =.047, p < .05) and
co-operative culture (β =.080, p < .05) suggests that moderate variables are positively associated with creativity. Model 2 links the
interaction effects of knowledge transfer and interaction frequency on creativity. The results show that the interaction effects of
knowledge transfer and interaction frequency (β = .091) on creativity is both positive and statistically significant at the p < .001
level. The finding indicates that tourism and hospitality students’ creativity would increase if they possess a closer relationship and
knowledge transfer activities with their classmates. Accordingly, Hypothesis 3, which states that interaction frequency moderates the
positive relationship between knowledge transfer and creativity, is supported. Fig. 3 depicts the relation between knowledge transfer
and interaction frequency (at both low and high levels) on creativity. The relation is stronger when interaction frequency is high

Interaction
frequency
Network Mutual Shared
trust goals
ties H4 Cooperative
** Culture
.961*** *** H2 .034
.883
.930*** .405*** H3
Transformational .720
***
.642*** .091**
Social Knowledge *
Creativity
Leadership Capital sharing
.630***
H1
.463***
χ2=1081.263, χ2/df=4.019, CFI=.943, AGFI=.890, GFI=.914, IFI=.934, RMSEA=.072
Fig. 2. Results of hypothesized models.

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Table 3
Results of regression analysis predicting three interactions of knowledge sharing, interaction frequency and a co-operative culture of creativity.

Creativity

Model 1 Model 2 Model 3 Model 4

Dependent Variables Coefficient SE Coefficient SE Coefficient SE Coefficient SE

Control Variables
Gender .264*** .050 .251*** .050 .252*** .050 .259*** .050
Department
Department of Food and Beverage Management .078 .081 .087 .080 .084 .080 .076 .080
Department of Hospitality Management .153 .086 .176* .085 .174* .085 .168* .084
Department of Tourism Management .176 .091 .212* .090 .211* .090 .219* .090
Department of Leisure and Recreation Management −.046 .098 −.019 .096 −.021 .097 −.009 .096
Experience
Under 1 year .082 .090 .086 .089 .082 .089 .069 .089
Between 1 and 3 year −.001 .087 .011 .086 .008 .086 −.006 .086
Between 3 and 5 year .027 .115 .052 .113 .048 .114 .024 .114
Above 5 years .042 .129 .077 .127 .077 .127 .058 .127
Moderating Variable
Knowledge Sharing(KS) .459*** .036 .052 .086 .140 .171 −.568 .316
Interaction Frequency(IF) .074* .029 −.338*** .085 −.404* .161 −.907*** .309
Cooperative Culture(CC) .080* .034 .068* .034 .044 .152 −.560* .273
Interaction
KS*IF .091*** .017 .085** .029 .255*** .070
KS*CC −.012 .036 .138* .067
IF*CC .018 .029 .166** .062
KS*IF*CC .034** .013
Model statistics
R2 .388 .405 .408 .420
R 2adj .380 .397 .396 .400
F 48.61*** 48.17*** 41.70*** 39.79***

* P < .05.
** P < .01.
*** P < .001.

5
4.5
4
Creativity

3.5
3
2.5
Low Interaction frequency
2
High Interaction frequency
1.5
1
Low Knowledge sharing High Knowledge sharing

Fig. 3. Two-way interaction among interaction frequency and knowledge sharing.

Table 4
Results of three-way interaction of slope difference with creativity as the dependent variable.

Pair of slopes t-value for slope difference p-value for slope difference

(1) and (2) 3.972 .000

(1) and (3) 5.096 .000
(1) and (4) 4.808 .000
(2) and (3) 1.638 .102
(2) and (4) 2.665 .008
(3) and (4) −.165 .869

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10
9
8
(1) High Interaction frequency,
7 High Cooperative culture
(2) High Interaction frequency,

Creativity
6 Low Cooperative culture

5 (3) Low Interaction frequency,

High Cooperative culture
4 (4) Low Interaction frequency,
Low Cooperative culture
3
2
1
Low Knowledge Sharing High Knowledge Sharing

Fig. 4. Three-way interaction among interaction frequency, a co-operative culture and knowledge sharing.

instead of low (Table 4).

Hypothesis 3 predicts a three-way interaction of knowledge sharing, interaction frequency and co-operative culture wherein
creativity is highest when these three attributes are high. Improvement of this hypothesis requires not only a statistically substantial
increase in variance explained (requiring a significant level of F at p < .001 for the increment in R2) in Model 4 but also outcomes
consistent with the prediction. Model 4 in Table 3 shows that the three-way interaction represents the overall variance, explaining the
increase of .012 (F = 39.79, p < ; .001). These results suggested that the models are improved and provide an appropriate inspection
of the nature of this relationship. The R2 increases from .388 in Model 1 to .420 in Model 4, which is equivalent to an increase of
3.2%. The results (β =.034, p < .01) indicated that critical learning attributes, such as knowledge sharing, interaction frequency and
co-operative culture, which may appear to represent a relatively moderate increase in student creativity, may have a substantial
effect on their new ideas or capability for creative development (Fig. 4).
Using the system analysis procedure outlined by Du, Kim, and Aldrich (2016), this study plotted the different levels of three
constructs (one standard deviation above and below the mean). Fig. 2 plotted two isolated diagrams at high and low levels to
illustrate the visual indication of the nature of an interaction effect related to Hypothesis 4. The highest level of students’ creativity
performance is achieved when knowledge sharing, interaction frequency and co-operative culture are all high. To investigate this
finding's robustness, the study also calculated the unbiased beta weights for slope difference along with the t-test and p-value for each
pairwise comparison (Dawson & Richter, 2006). The results of the significant three-way interaction are reported in Table 3, which
shows that slope 1 represents significant differences among any two, three, or all four combinations of explanatory variables. This
finding supports Hypothesis 4.

5. Additional tests for robustness

5.1. Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) analysis of the Taiwan sample

As suggested by Hayes (2009), this paper extended the analyses of the original models and separated the entire sample into
Taiwan and China groups to verify the direct and indirect effects (significance) of the variables. The results of samples selected in
Taiwan are illustrated in Fig. 5. The hypothesized measurement model fits the data well (χ2=797.099, χ2/df=2.963, CFI=.965,
AGFI=.900, GFI=.923, IFI=.966, RMSEA=.061). Furthermore, we examine the indirect (mediation) effects of social capital and
knowledge sharing on the relationships between transformational leadership and creativity, which responds to Hypotheses 1 and 2.
The use of re-sampling methods to calculate compound coefficients and measure constructing bias-corrected confidence intervals is
suggested by Edwards and Lambert (2007). This study used the Monte Carlo approach of re-sampling to calculate 95% confidence

Interaction
frequency
Network Mutual Shared
trust goals
ties H4 Cooperative
* Culture
.957*** *** H2 .037
.839
.947*** .479*** H3
Transformational .717
***
.722*** .073**
Social Knowledge *
Creativity
Leadership Capital sharing
.663***
H1
.518***
χ2=797.099, χ2/df=2.963, CFI=.965, AGFI=.900, GFI=.923, IFI=.966, RMSEA=.061
Fig. 5. Results of hypothesized models: Taiwan.

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C.-H. Sam Liu Journal of Hospitality, Leisure, Sport & Tourism Education 21 (2017) 69–82

Creativity Creativity
5 10
(1) High Interaction frequency, High Cooperative
culture
4.5 9 (2) High Interaction frequency, Low Cooperative
culture
(3) Low Interaction frequency, High Cooperative
8 culture
4 (4) Low Interaction frequency, Low Cooperative
7 culture
3.5
6
3
5
2.5
4
2 Low Interaction frequency 3
1.5 High Interaction frequency 2
1 1
Low Knowledge High Knowledge Low Knowledge High Knowledge
Sharing Sharing
sharing sharing
(a) Two-way interaction (b)Three-way interaction
Fig. 6. Two- and three-way interactions among interaction frequency, a co-operative culture and knowledge sharing: Taiwan (a) Two-way interaction (b)Three-way
interaction.

intervals and 2000 re-samples using AMOS 18 software. As shown in Fig. 5, the standardized indirect statistical effects of social
capital involve knowledge sharing (β =.518, p < .001). Accordingly, Hypothesis 1 is fully supported. With regard to creativity, the
standardized indirect effects via knowledge sharing are statistically significant for creativity performance outcomes (β =.479, p < ;
.001). Thus, Hypothesis 2 is supported.
The moderating effects of interaction frequency are illustrated to strengthen the relationships between knowledge sharing and
creativity (β =.073, p < .01), which supports Hypothesis 3. The results of the three-way interaction are shown in Fig. 5, which
indicates that for tourism and hospitality students who score high on knowledge sharing, interaction frequency and cultural co-
operation are more positively related to creativity (β =.037, p < .05) than for students who score low on knowledge sharing,
interaction frequency and cultural co-operation. As such, Hypothesis 4 is fully supported. The moderating effects of interaction
frequency and co-operative cultural associations with knowledge sharing and creativity are summarized in Fig. 6.

5.2. Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) analysis of the China sample

Before testing the hypothesis, the study first assessed the overall model fit of the alternative model in Fig. 7. The results show that
this alternative model achieved good fit (χ2=948.964, χ2/df=3.527, CFI=.913, AGFI=.819, GFI=.859, IFI=.913, RMSEA=.078).
Comparison with the original hypothesized model yielded a better model fit for integrated samples (χ2=1081.263, χ2/df=4.019,
CFI=.943, AGFI=.890, GFI=.914, IFI=.934, RMSEA=.072), indicating that the alternative model of the China sample was not a
significant improvement over the original model. However, the overall model fit also achieved an accepted level that is suitable for
further examination of the hypotheses.
This study tested the proposed mediation-moderated effects by examining the significance of the indirect effects using the method

Interaction
frequency
Network Mutual Shared
trust goals
ties H4 Cooperative
* Culture
.963*** *** H2 .036
.939
.907*** .330*** H3
Transformational .726
***
.552*** .106***
Social Knowledge
Creativity
Leadership Capital sharing
.597***
H1
.401***
χ2=948.964, χ2/df=3.527, CFI=.913, AGFI=.819, GFI=.859, IFI=.913, RMSEA=.078
Fig. 7. Results of hypothesized models: China.

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C.-H. Sam Liu Journal of Hospitality, Leisure, Sport & Tourism Education 21 (2017) 69–82

Creativity
Creativity 10
5 (1) High Interaction frequency, High
Cooperative culture
9 (2) High Interaction frequency, Low
4.5 Cooperative culture
(3) Low Interaction frequency, High
8 Cooperative culture
4 (4) Low Interaction frequency, Low
7 Cooperative culture
3.5
6
3
5
2.5 Low Interaction frequency 4
2 High Interaction frequency
3
1.5 2
1 1
Low Knowledge High Knowledge Low Knowledge High Knowledge
sharing sharing Sharing Sharing

(a) Two-way interaction (b)Three-way interaction

Fig. 8. Two- and three-way interactions among interaction frequency, a co-operative culture and knowledge sharing: China (a) Two-way interaction (b)Three-way
interaction.

of bootstrapping and Monte Carlo approach suggested by Zhang and colleagues (Zhang, LePine, Buckman & Wei, 2014)). Hypothesis
1 proposed that social capital mediates the relationships among transformational leadership. Using AMOS 18 software, resampled
1000 times, compound coefficients and the confidence intervals (CIs) are estimated for the indirect effects. The results show a
significant positive indirect effect of transformational leadership on knowledge transfer via social capital (β =.401, p < .001).
Therefore, Hypothesis 1 was supported. There was also a significant positive indirect effect of social capital on individual creativity
via knowledge transfer (β =.330, p < .001), thus supporting Hypothesis 2.
Hypothesis 3 predicted that interaction frequency moderates the relationship between knowledge transfer and creativity. The
path estimate from the interaction term between interaction frequency and knowledge transfer on creativity was significant (β
=.106, p < .001). Thus, Hypothesis 3 was supported. Furthermore, the results found support for Hypothesis 4, which predicted that
interaction frequency and co-operative culture strengthens the relationship between knowledge transfer and creativity: the inter-
action of knowledge transfer, interaction frequency and co-operative culture on creativity was significant (β =.036, p < .05). Ac-
cording to the results, the study graphically depicted the two- and three-way interaction between knowledge transfer, interaction
frequency and co-operative culture on creativity. The plot in Fig. 8 shows that when individuals had higher (instead of lower) levels
of interaction frequency and cultural co-operation, their knowledge-transfer activities were more positively associated with creativity
performance. The simple slope test confirmed the findings that interaction frequency and cultural co-operations were positively and
significantly related to increasing student creativity in activities involving high levels of knowledge transfer.

6. Conclusion and discussion

The objective of the present study was to examine the effect of transformational leadership and social capital on creativity from
the perspective of tourism and hospitality students compared with the moderate effects of interaction frequency, co-operative cultural
and knowledge sharing in the learning environment setting. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first empirical study to si-
multaneously consider various regions of student learning environments of transformational leadership, various dimensions of social
capital, and knowledge sharing to explain individual creativity among tourism and hospitality students. This study provides a more
comprehensive discussion of the relationship between learning environment and creativity and sends an important message about the
need to enhance creativity for use in future HRM practices in the tourism and hospitality industry.

6.1. Education implications

The results of this study indicate that the learning environment has critical attributes influencing students’ creativity (Armstrong,
2003), suggesting that educators must focus on building a comfortable learning environment and providing transformational lea-
dership to increase social capital accumulation in the classroom and, through appropriate knowledge sharing mechanism, enhance
students’ generation of creative ideas. Additionally, in a dynamic international environment, educators should also focus on how to

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create frequent student interactions and develop cultural co-operation in classes to enhance creativity through the strength of the
knowledge-sharing mechanism. This empirical evidence extends the suggestions of prior scholars (Sigala & Chalkiti, 2015; Yu, Peng,
Peng, Zheng, & Liu, 2016) and provides novel insight about human resources development (i.e., that the context of the learning
environment supports individual creativity) for use in the tourism and hospitality education literature. Furthermore, this study found
that transformational leadership, as a foundational attribute, influences students’ social capital accumulation, knowledge sharing
behaviour and creativity. The multiple-mediation process suggests that some creativity-supporting elements are more beneficial for
social capital and thus have no effect at the level of the overall knowledge-management model (Donate & de Pablo, 2015;
Mittal & Dhar, 2015). The results provide direction for tourism and hospitality educators with respect to an effective method of
increasing students’ learning effectiveness by focusing on the intangible environment of a social network and leadership attributes,
not the construction of the physical internal environment.
The findings also make the significant contribution that the internal learning environment is somewhat smaller than that of the
external environment with regard to individual creativity, suggesting that transformational leadership plays a greater role in en-
hancing tourism and hospitality students’ creativity. Creative performance may come from the organizational internal learning
environment development (Valaei, Rezaei, & Ismail, 2017). This study found that organizational environment has critical factors
further enhanced by the other work environment contexts of knowledge sharing and social capital. With the education environment
setting, the educator may create a learning environment encouraging students’ autonomy and deep engagement with the course
(Maher, 2004), entrepreneurship programs (Gundry, Ofstein, & Kickul, 2014), and intergroup competition (Chen & Chiu, 2016) to
help students increase their interaction frequency to acquire positive feedback, learn from experience sharing, and develop cultural
cooperation, which enables students to discover new ideas and new opportunities that contribute to individual creativity. This finding
corresponds with that of Masa'deh, Obeidat, and Tarhini (2016) and suggests that transformational leadership, social capital and
knowledge sharing have an impact that is simultaneously significant for both individual creativity and job performance. Additionally,
individuals’ knowledge sharing can be strategically developed in tourism and hospitality organizations by providing employees with
various training programmes to acquire not only an awareness of the importance of new knowledge and information but also the
ability to manage their individual social connections and those of others, thus enabling them both to work effectively and to develop
cultural co-operation in the workplace (Hon & Leung, 2011).

6.2. Theoretical implication

This study thus provides several contributions for theoretical and management practices. First, this study found that various
learning environment (transformational leadership, cultural co-operation and knowledge transfer) and social network (social capital
and interaction frequency) attributes can contribute to creativity in tourism and hospitality students, a finding that could extend to
organization workers. Therefore, the results fill the gaps in the tourism and hospitality literature and support the view that the
learning environment and social network play a critical role in creative workplace design. With increasing competition in the tourism
and hospitality industry, future workers will experience various levels of job complexity. This study's results revealed multiple
mediation relationships between transformational leadership and individual creative role identity for tourism and hospitality stu-
dents. Because this study does not use front-line or office employees in its sample, its results are more meaningful in terms of
revealing individual creative self-efficacy (Wang et al., 2014).
Second, this study finds that knowledge sharing, a co-operative culture and interaction frequency are important factors for
increasing individual creativity. Managers can design appropriate motivation mechanisms to increase the opportunity for individual
interaction to enhance employee creativity through knowledge or experience sharing (e.g., encouraging cross-level or cross-de-
partmental team work, rotating jobs, improving leadership, and enhancing the co-worker support system).
Third, this study extends the current understanding of both the consequences of transformational leadership and its sequential
creativity relationships. In recent decades, transformational leadership has been seen as a significant means of coaching talented
employees (Wang et al., 2014). Nevertheless, few studies either explore the possibility that transformational leadership can fail to
yield expected student creativity or focus on the tourism and hospitality industry. Accordingly, this study provides an enhanced
understanding of individual creativity generation processes, which are simultaneously depicted as a set of complex learning en-
vironments within individuals and a function of the directions of moderate or mediate effects. Taken together, the results of this study
provide a more balanced, realistic view of creativity and suggest that tourism and hospitality organizations can also create a learning
climate that encourages employees to extend their individual (internal and external) social connections. In this way, organizations
can increase employees’ sensitivity to environmental changes, acquire newly information, and enlarge their absorptive capability
(Manmiller, Kumar, & Pekala, 2005). In addition, among professionals, the results also suggest that individual and emotional support
from supervisors is one important antecedent of social capital that can both affect knowledge variety and facilitate employee
creativity.

6.3. Limitations and future research directions

Similar to other studies in the field, our study has some limitations. First, we measured creativity by using respondents’ self-
reports. Self-reports have been accepted and applied in many previous studies and represent a valid measure of an individual's
creative performance (Yüksel, 2017). However, evaluation by educators or other classmates can be meaningful because it reduces
students’ subjectivity in estimating their own creativity. Further research can extend this study and include either additional mea-
sures of creative performance, such as questionnaires directed to educators, supervisors or classmates, or measures of other

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alternative creative output or ideas. Second, for practical and management reasons, concerns may be raised about measurement
errors or general application in other fields because of the use of a single data source. Although we have provided evidence and used
Harman's one-factor test to avoid common method bias, this concern remains. Further studies can collect data from different sources
or industries, thus not only avoiding common method bias but also evaluating differences across industries. Third, we selected our
respondents from among tourism and hospitality students. To generalize our findings to other service or management students, future
studies should replicate and extend this research, which includes the following important measuring variables of the learning en-
vironment.

6.4. Conclusion

Creativity education is a major challenge and leading future course design for tourism and hospitality students (Chang & Hsu,
2010; Li & Liu, 2016). From the viewpoint of tourism and hospitality students’ capability development, a creative learning en-
vironment increases their odds of developing creative capability by capitalizing on the multi-attribute aspects of their learning paths,
such as sharing knowledge, developing a cooperating culture and creating interpersonal network ties. In some cases, educators must
provide transformational leadership and sensitivity with industry changes to build a challengeable learning environment and to
increase students’ creativity through encouraging internal social capital accumulation and appropriate knowledge sharing. In other
cases, educators need to inspire students regarding whether their individual social networks are special enough to let cooperative
actors willing to share useful knowledge and/or whether cooperative culture may maintain and further strengthen enhanced crea-
tivity. This article used mediation and three forms of moderation design to illustrate that learning environment attributes are im-
portant in tourism and hospitality students’ creativity education. We hope that this article stimulates further research on the edu-
cation course planning processes students use in developing and acquiring their own creative ideas and provides a direction for career
boosts to enhance their creativity.

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