3.1 Paradoxical Tension and Paradoxical Thinking
Paradoxical tensions impact the mental sense-making processes of university students [26, 27, 42]. While these tensions may evoke feelings of unease and doubt among students [43], potentially leading to a confrontational approach, they can also motivate students to cognitively acknowledge the persistent existence of paradoxical tensions and adopt a receptive stance toward opposing elements or issues. This fosters the development of a cognitive framework and thinking style characterized by paradox. Nevertheless, individual thinking styles are shaped and embedded within the broader cultural context [44]. Due to prolonged exposure to traditional Chinese culture, Chinese university students are inclined to be significantly impacted by Zhong-Yong thinking and the cognitive framework of Yin-Yang balancing [45–47]. Smith et al. [48] observed that individuals in China are more prone to adopting a paradoxical frame and thinking style when facing paradoxical situations than individuals in the United States. Prashantham and Eranova [49] noted that individuals from the East, such as those from China, more readily embrace a paradoxical frame and welcome tensions than individuals from the West. When confronting conflicting yet interconnected challenges in engineering projects, university students tend to rely on their previous frames of reference to manage and resolve issues due to cognitive path dependency.
However, the shifts in external environmental conditions may render former frames of reference obsolete, necessitating the reevaluation of paradoxical tensions through the cultivation of new frames of reference [50]. In situations where existing cognitive frameworks fail to align with environmental changes, experiencing tensions could act as a catalyst for students to learn through paradox, recognizing, transcending, and addressing contradictions [51]. Consequently, engineering university students can perceive paradoxical tensions as educational instruments [52], enhancing their ability to progressively comprehend and handle intricate tensions through the learning process [53]. This enhanced capacity to navigate paradoxical tensions contributes to further establishing paradoxical thinking among students, fostering a mindset that embraces and effectively manages conflicting elements. As a result, the subsequent hypothesis was postulated:
H1: Paradoxical tensions positively impact paradoxical thinking.
3.2 Paradoxical Thinking and Creativity
Paradoxical thinking empowers individuals to proactively embrace tensions and welcome contradictory yet interconnected issues, as opposed to seeking their elimination [27]. The integration of two or more conflicting elements or matters is intrinsic to creativity [54]. Studies indicate that organizations and teams are progressively adopting frames characterized by a paradox in response to paradoxical situations, thereby influencing team and organizational performance [55, 40, 35]. The capacity of paradoxical thinking to stimulate university students’ “both/and” cognition, as opposed to “either/or” thinking, empowers them to connect opposing elements or issues and uncover new solutions [42]. This cognitive shift also fosters the development of creative thinking skills [56] and the capacity to identify problems [57]. Paradoxical cognition diminishes the inertial risk associated with established cognitive frames, allowing students to be receptive to alternative information [58] and consequently enhancing creativity [59]. Numerous studies have underscored the favorable impact of “both/and” thinking [60, 31]. When undertaking tasks that demand creativity or addressing problems innovatively, students equipped with frames of paradoxical thinking can rearrange pertinent elements or issues to generate fresh solutions or ideas. Paradoxical thinking also disrupts traditional straight-line reasoning, prompting students to blend conflicting elements or issues into new ideas and solutions. Research provides solid evidence to substantiate this claim. Individuals with paradoxical frameworks demonstrate greater creativity compared to those with alternative cognitive frameworks [61, 62]. Ingram et al. [41] discovered a notably positive impact of paradoxical thinking on innovative behavior. Similarly, later research has indicated that paradoxical mindsets have favorable effects on individual job performance and innovative behavior [39, 40]. Consequently, the following hypothesis was developed:
H2: Paradoxical thinking positively impacts the creativity of engineering university students.
3.3 Paradoxical Tension and Creativity
Paradoxical tensions and responses have the potential to propel learning and innovation, enhance adaptability, and unleash individuals’ potential [35]. Initial studies perceived tension merely as an indicator of anxiety, concentrating on how participants effectively navigate choices between conflicting elements under specific conditions [63]. In contrast to the dilemma perspective that separates conflicting elements, the paradox perspective highlights the competitive yet interconnected associations within tension. Activating the “both-and” mindset in this situation helps individuals discover the positive possibilities of tension over an extended period [27]. Nevertheless, the impact of tension on creative performance remains ambiguous [55, 31, 64].
Moreover, existing studies in this context have predominantly concentrated on the business organization environment [31, 65, 66], with limited investigations in the realm of higher education. The impact of paradoxical tensions on the creativity and innovative behavior of university students is not well-explored, and there is a scarcity of empirical studies examining their experiences with tensions and the resulting implications. Despite existing literature exploring the correlation between paradoxical tensions and innovation (e.g., Ingram et al. [41]; Miron-Spektor et al. [40]), the underlying mechanisms through which paradoxical tensions influence the creativity of engineering university students remain undisclosed. Therefore, the subsequent hypothesis was framed:
H3: Paradoxical tension positively impacts the creativity of engineering university students.
3.4 Mediating Role of Paradoxical Thinking
Personal encounters with paradoxical tensions reflect individuals’ emotional responses, subsequently influencing the frames and processing of their paradoxical cognition, thus impacting their creativity [27, 38, 40, 42, 55]. In simpler terms, when facing tension, students can prompt paradoxical cognition and conscious reasoning, allowing them to establish a paradoxical mindset and cognitive approach [35], ultimately fueling their creativity. Hence, these studies implicitly suggest that paradoxical thinking can mediate the link between experiencing tension and the creativity of university students. In their 2022 study, Wilson and colleagues demonstrated that teams have the potential to enhance innovative ideas by effectively navigating and blending opposing tensions [67]. Moreover, how university students respond to paradoxical tensions significantly influences whether the tension impedes or enhances creativity, as evidenced by studies conducted by Ingram et al. [41], Jay [68], and Smith & Tushman [35].
Paradoxical thinking mirrors the cognitive frameworks and cognitive activities of university students, along with their cognitive reactions to paradoxical tensions [27, 35]. When students actively welcome and acknowledge enduring paradoxical tensions during the meaning-making process [26, 27], they engage in paradoxical thinking. Consequently, paradoxical thinking can reconfigure and surpass the borders of conflicting matters [45, 51, 59], stimulating the creativity of university students [41, 40, 27]. Hence, the subsequent hypothesis was formulated:
H4: Paradoxical thinking plays a mediating role in the relationship between paradoxical tension and the creativity of engineering university students.
3.5 Moderating Role of Team Psychological Capital
Luthans, Youssef, and Avolio [69] articulate psychological capital as the positive psychological developmental state of an individual. This state is characterized by the possession of confidence to confront and invest the necessary effort in excelling at challenging tasks. It involves persisting toward goals and, when necessary, adjusting paths to achieve them. Furthermore, it encompasses maintaining resilience when confronted with problems and adversity, rebounding, and even surpassing them to achieve success. Finally, it involves maintaining a positive outlook on achieving success in both the current and future contexts. Psychological capital, similar to a state-like variable, is quantifiable, deployable, and subject to cultivation through external interventions like on-the-job training, positive feedback, or group support [70]. While past research on behavior has predominantly focused on how psychological capital influences individual behavior, there has been limited attention given to its impact on teams.
Tension can lead to negative outcomes, perpetuating a cycle of paradoxical tensions [27]. Team members’ ability to persist despite tension from setbacks will determine their overall success or failure. Team psychological capital promotes a proactive approach to dealing with these paradoxical tensions, fostering active coping and paradoxical thinking [71]. The potential of paradoxical tensions and responses to stimulate intellectual growth and inventive progress, improve adjustability, and tap into human capabilities is evident [27]. Paradoxical thinking empowers engineering university students to actively embrace tensions and wrestle with contradictory yet interconnected issues [27]. Team psychological capital helps alleviate the adverse effects of members’ frustration [72]. Integrating paradoxical elements is crucial in addressing the inherent tensions in innovative efforts within engineering project research and development. Accordingly, the subsequent hypotheses were formulated:
H5: Team psychological capital plays a moderating role in the link between paradoxical tension and the creativity of engineering university students.
H6: Team psychological capital plays a moderating role in the link between paradoxical tension and paradoxical thinking.