How supervisor support influences research innovation capability among master's students: the chain mediating roles of research resilience and research engagement.

INTRODUCTION: Cultivating innovative talent has become a prominent concern with the rapid advancement of artificial intelligence and intensification of knowledge production. Master's students' research innovation capability remains at a nascent stage. Previous studies have explored various factors that contribute to students' research innovation, but few have investigated how resilience and engagement operate together in the sequential process.

METHODS: Grounded in Conservation of Resources theory, Social Support and Self-determination theory, this study developed and tested a chain mediation model to examine the mediating roles of research resilience and research engagement in the relationship between supervisor support and research innovation capability. Data were collected from 421 master's students at Chinese universities. Path analysis and the bootstrap method were used to test the mediating effects.

RESULTS: Supervisor support exerted significant positive effects on research resilience (β = 0.521), engagement (β = 0.150). The direct effect of supervisor support on research innovation capability was non-significant, but the total effect was significant. Research resilience and engagement mediated the effect of supervisor support on research innovation capability (indirect effect = 0.156).

CONCLUSION: This study revealed the psychological and behavioral mechanisms underlying the conversion of supervisor support into research innovation capability among master's students. These findings underscore the importance of strengthening research resilience and fostering research engagement within master's students training systems as key conditions for activating students' research agency, which in turn enhances their research innovation capacity.