Conference Agenda

The complexity of innovation under uncertainty and undergoing the digital transformation of society requires an ultimate ability to embrace the unknown, transform the contexts and solutions, make sense, and deliver value with societal and environmental impact from those who engage in an innovation journey in the 21st century. However, the competence development models, and even so practices, rely on models that have been developed a few decades ago and lack an in-depth integration of skills that would allow the innovator to navigate the uncertainty with greater creativity and confidence. Both the academic and the business environments must reinvent themselves and adopt a more responsible and desirable approach to innovation (Owen, Bessant, et al., 2013), embracing sustainability, inclusion, and societal risks, but also frugal and circular innovation while embracing the challenge of digital transformation inducing the new logic of work, and a societal organization at large. To progressively develop a collective commitment of care for the future and to identify innovation targets in a more ethical, inclusive, and equitable manner, innovation managers need to see “the big picture” and develop new skills and competencies such as creativity, critical thinking, curiosity but also mindfulness, empathy, emotional engagement, and a greater awareness and sensibility towards environment and all stakeholders of their ecosystem. The potential success considering the context of the digital transformation era lies in the mix of these skills, abilities, and orientations (Dabrowska and Podmetina, 2017; Ritala et al., 2021) consequently the combination of skills needs to be reconsidered, adapted or even reinvented.

In the innovation management literature, the attention is rarely focused on skills (Chiarello et al., 2021; Kim and Lee, 2022; Membrillo-Hernández et al., 2021), although the rapid technological (and in particular the AI development) and sustainable changes highlight the alarming necessity for innovators and creative thinkers to develop a more holistic and interdisciplinary approach to innovation and entrepreneurship (Dobson and Walmsley, 2021). Unfortunately, education practices struggle to equip the students with the set of skills to act under the unknown, deal with extreme complexity, ambiguity (Schleicher, 2018) and wicked problem solving (Von Thienen et al., 2014). Integrating Art - and all artistic experimentations from visual arts, to theater, dance, music, photography, design…- could help to focus on new, different, unconventional and creative skills that are lacking in the current approach of innovation and education (Berthinier-Poncet et al., 2022). The integration of Arts in the industrial environment could also fill the need of organizations to engage in new, more spontaneous, sustainable and novel ways of managing and innovating (Carlucci and Schiuma, 2018). The artistic process allows for a different kind of understanding regarding approach to creativity, one that emphasizes self-generation, metacognition, and thematic coherence.

The relatively recent STEAM education approach - Science Technology Engineering Arts and Math’s - offers a major step in the development of these expected new skills as it emphasizes experiential and transversal learning, transdisciplinary and project-based work stimulating autonomy, creativity and self-control in students (Chien and Chu, 2018; Conde-González et al., 2021). This development is part of the recent trend towards transformative learning (Clark and Wilson, 1991; Watkins et al., 2012) that represents a profound shift in an individual's perspective, beliefs, and assumptions, leading to a more inclusive and critically reflective worldview (Mezirow, 1997). The significant emphasis is placed on skills and competencies derived from Arts.

In this paper we study (RQ) what new skill sets are essential for future innovators and entrepreneurs’ competence development from industry and academia perspective and propose an Arts-driven competence model for future innovators and entrepreneurs.

The rising popularity of higher education has consequently incentivized undergraduates to pursue advanced degrees. From the perspective of Homo economicus, which considers the decisions of undergraduates to be rational and calculative to maximize personal utility, research indicate that students pursue advanced degrees to mitigate the growing uncertainty associated with employment amidst the expansion of higher education (Wright & Horta, 2018). On the contrary, however, the labor market indicates that students have a hazy perception of the degree's direct, immediate, or transferable value concerning employment (Tomlinson, 2008). Therefore, aside from economically modeling the decision of students to pursue degrees, it is critical to investigate students' subjective perspectives on the matter.

The proliferation of bachelor’s degrees has made it more difficult for Chinese students to meet the quota for admission to master's programs. In line with trends observed in other educational systems, Chinese students associate the pursuit of graduate degrees with not only the anticipation of favorable labor market prospects, but also with positive self- and social assessments (e.g., parental approbation). The multifaceted motivates that drive Chinese students to pursue advanced degrees manifest in a variety of feelings and conduct throughout their undergraduate studies. Particularly for those undergraduates already attending elite universities who exert effort to remain competitive with the elites, the pursuit of a master’s degree becomes a more or less obligatory choice, which induces anxiety, perplexity and involution (Zhu, 2021).

The purpose of this research is to investigate the relationship between the motives of undergraduates and their learning attitudes. Specifically, this study aims to: (1) identify the types of motives that drive Chinese undergraduates to pursue a graduate degree through the use of a person-centered approach; (2) detect how members of different motive types vary in terms of involution involvement, peace of mind, and academic burnout; and (3) compare the findings of this study with those of other countries regarding motives for academic pursuits and analyze the impact of different cultures on motivation.

The underlying theoretical framework employed in this study is Self-Determination Theory (SDT). Motives are conceptualized as a multidimensional construct within SDT, in which various motive types are categorized along a continuum according to the extent to which they are internalized, namely, internal motives, identified motives, introjected motives, and external motives (Deci and Ryan, 2000). Both introjected and external motives are considered controlled motives since they both motivate behavior through the imposition of demands or pressures. Additionally, identified and internal motives are regarded as autonomous motivations. In theory, being motivated by control would end in undesirable consequences, whereas being motivated by autonomy is expected to produce favorable outcomes. Senko et al. (2023) have recently broadened the classification of SDT to encompass nine distinct motives, namely: enjoyment, personal development, other’s development, personal pride, personal shame, others’ pride, others’ shame, social reward, and social punishment. A model of the nine motives can more accurately characterize the motives of undergraduates who are pursuing a graduate degree.