Supplementary file 1_When universities advocate GAI but practice falls short: student appraisals and creative process engagement in art education.docx

In Study 2, inconsistency showed a significant negative indirect association with creative process engagement through hindrance appraisal and a significant positive indirect association through challenge appraisal. Pathways thinking strengthened the association between inconsistency and challenge appraisal and the corresponding positive conditional indirect association, but did not significantly weaken either the hindrance appraisal relationship or the negative indirect pathway.</p>Discussion<p>Institutional inconsistency does not produce a uniform student response; instead, it can be interpreted simultaneously as an obstacle and as a manageable developmental demand, with opposing implications for creative engagement.

The findings extend research on institutional word–deed alignment to GAI-supported art education and identify pathways thinking as a resource that facilitates challenge-oriented interpretation without eliminating awareness of genuine institutional constraints. Universities should align GAI commitments with teaching, assessment, and support practices while helping students develop alternative routes for coping with implementation uncertainty.</p>