Design Mentoring Styles and Their Impact on Innovation Capability A Cross-Cultural Structural Equation Modeling Study in Creative Education

Abstract

The relationship between mentoring approaches and innovation capability in design education remains underexplored despite its critical importance for fostering creative talent. This study investigates how different design mentoring styles influence students’ innovation capability through a comprehensive cross-cultural analysis. Using structural equation modeling, we analyzed data from 486 design students across three cultural regions (North America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific) to examine the relationships between
mentoring styles, mentor-mentee relationship quality, and innovation outcomes. Our findings reveal that collaborative mentoring style has the strongest positive effect on innovation capability (β = 0.67, p < 0.001 ), followed by inspirational leadership style (β = 0.52, p < 0.001). The model explains 73.2% of the variance in innovation capability, with mentor relationship quality serving as a significant mediator. Cross-cultural validation demonstrates the robustness of these relationships across different educational contexts. These results provide evidence-based guidance for design education institutions seeking to optimize mentoring
practices for innovation development.