Strive for excellence: unboxing the antecedents of art design students’ creativity in the learning process in China

Objectives The study aims to examine how personality characteristics, disciplinary values, self-efficacy, emotional management, and learning style affect student creativity during the learning process. Later, determine the mediating role of reflective practice and the moderating role of the learning environment. Methods A total of 402 final-year Art Design undergraduates from Shandong province in mainland China responded to the questions. Results The findings indicate that students’ personality characteristics, self-efficacy, disciplinary values, and emotional management significantly affect reflective practice. Moreover, reflective practice substantially played a role in mediation. Surprisingly, learning style does not significantly affect reflective practice or creativity during learning. The learning environment was actively moderated. Finally, reflective practice and student creativity in the learning process are significantly related. Conclusion This study elucidated the learning processes of Chinese Art Design students’ creativity. It is anticipated to offer a novel foundation and viewpoint for improving Art Design education.