FORMAL AND INFORMAL MENTORSHIPS: A COMPARISON ON MENTORING FUNCTIONS AND CONTRAST WITH NONMENTORED COUNTERPARTS

Research on mentorships has suffered from fragmentation of key issues; specifically, type of mentoring relationship, functions served by the mentor, and outcomes of the mentoring relationship. A field study was conducted comparing 212 protégés who were involved in informally developed mentorships, 53 protégés involved in formal mentor-ship programs, and 284 individuals who did not have mentors. Individuals in informal and formal mentorships were compared along two mentoring dimensions: psychosocial and career-related functions. All groups were compared on three outcome measures: organizational socialization, job satisfaction, and salary. Results indicated protégés in informal mentorships reported more career-related support from their mentors and higher salaries than protégés in formal mentorships. For all outcome variables, protégés in informal mentorships also reported more favorable outcomes than nonmentored individuals. However, outcomes from protégés in formal mentorships were generally not significant from the other two groups. Implications for mentorship practices and research are discussed.     

多水平导师指导行为对员工结果的影响机制

作为一种促进员工社会化和职业发展的工具, 导师制已在各类企业中得到了广泛应用。然而, 近些年员工工作需求以及组织工作方式的变化分别对导师指导行为的作用结果和指导内容产生了冲击。一方面, 传统导师指导行为作用的研究大多限于员工职业结果; 另一方面, 传统导师制的研究仍停留在一对一的指导, 忽略了针对徒弟群体的指导。为此, 将在现实观察和理论回顾的基础上, 首先提出多水平导师指导行为的概念, 包括为徒弟群提供“一致性”指导的“群体水平指导行为”与为单个徒弟提供“差异化”指导的“个体水平指导行为”; 然后, 检验自我效能与群体认同在多水平导师指导行为对徒弟个体和徒弟群体的工作绩效与非职业结果影响的中介机制, 以及不同水平导师指导行为对徒弟(群)结果的跨层交互效应。以期填补过去导师制在作用结果(仅仅关注职业结果)和指导内容(忽略群体水平)研究上的不足, 并为企业有效实施导师制提供启示与帮助。     

PROTÉGÉS NEGATIVE MENTORING EXPERIENCES: CONSTRUCT DEVELOPMENT AND NOMOLOGICAL VALIDATION

Two studies were conducted to operationalize the construct of negative mentoring experiences, establish content validity, and test theory-based predictions associated with a nomological network of related variables. As predicted, the negative experiences of mentor Distancing Behavior and Lack of Mentor Expertise were more often reported in the separation phase and among protégés in formally arranged mentoring relationships. All types of experiences were related to career-related support, psychosocial support, and learning, with Distancing Behavior being most highly related to career support and learning. Significant correlations were also found with relational complementarity, social exchange perceptions, intentions to leave the relationship, depressed mood, and psychological job withdrawal. Negative mentoring was also distinct from positive mentoring, general workplace stress, and dissatisfying social relationships at work, providing discriminant validity evidence. Finally, negative mentoring had explanatory power in predicting protégéoutcomes over and above positive mentoring. The findings are discussed in terms of future research on mentoring as well as applied practice.     

AN INVESTIGATION OF THE DETERMINANTS OF SUCCESSFUL ASSIGNED MENTORING RELATIONSHIPS

This study examined the influence of protégé characteristics, gender composition of the mentoring relationship, the quality of the relationship, and the amount of time the protégé spent with the mentor on career and psychosocial benefits gained by the protégé. Protégés were assigned to mentors as part of a development program designed to facilitate personal and career development of educators. An instrument designed to assess the extent to which mentors provide career and psychosocial outcomes to protégés was developed. Protégé gender, job involvement, and career planning activity was related to attainment of psychosocial outcomes. Implications and future directions for research regarding mentoring are discussed.     

Personality Predictors of Protégé Mentoring History

The present study identifies personality characteristics that are predicted to be associated with protégé status in a series of mentoring relationships, an area of research that has not been explored previously. Predictors of mentoring history identified are need for achievement, need for dominance, self-esteem, and tension dissipation. A MANOVA, using number of previous mentors as the independent variable and 4 personality characteristics (need for achievement, need for dominance, self-esteem, and tension dissipation) as outcome variables, showed a significant relationship. Univariate follow-up tests indicated that the number of previous mentoring relationships was significantly associated with need for achievement, need for dominance, and self-esteem, but not tension dissipation. Results are discussed in terms of protégé development, and directions for future research are suggested.     

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN FORMAL MENTORING PROGRAM CHARACTERISTICS AND PERCEIVED PROGRAM EFFECTIVENESS

Formal mentoring programs continue to gain popularity within organizations despite limited empirical research regarding how these programs should be designed to achieve maximum effectiveness. This study examined design features of formal mentoring programs and perceived program effectiveness from both mentor and protégé perspectives. Mentor commitment and program understanding were examined as mediators. Substantial support for the proposed path analytic model was found. These results help begin to bridge the gap between science and practice concerning the design of formal mentoring programs.     

Comparison of Traditional, Step-Ahead, and Peer Mentoring on Protégés' Support, Satisfaction, and Perceptions of Career Success: A Social Exchange Perspective

This study applied social exchange theory as a conceptual framework to examine the effectiveness of various types of mentors and mentor support on protégés' satisfaction with their mentors, jobs, and perceived career success. Participants were 142 ethnically diverse protégés in informal mentoring relationships. It was found that role modeling, reciprocity, and vocational support predicted protégés' satisfaction with their mentors. Vocational support was a significant predictor of protégés' job satisfaction and perceived career success. Protégés were more satisfied with, had higher job satisfaction, and reported that traditional mentors provided significantly more vocational and role modeling support than peer or step-ahead mentors.     

The event reconstruction method: An efficient measure of experience‐based job satisfaction

Job satisfaction is predominantly measured as global attitudinal judgment which requires employees to summarize their experiences across different job situations. In contrast, experience‐based measures assess momentary thoughts and feelings of the employees in specific job situations. This paper introduces the event reconstruction method (ERM) as an efficient measure of experience‐based job satisfaction that is less invasive and less time consuming compared with traditional experience sampling methods. An initial validation study is reported with N=193 employees from a German wholesale company. As expected, job satisfaction measured with the ERM was different from attitudinal job satisfaction. Also, consistent with expectations, experience‐based job satisfaction was a better predictor of self‐reported helping behaviour, whereas attitudinal job satisfaction was a better predictor of turnover intentions. Finally, comparing the ERM results with the results of a similar study using a traditional experience sampling method ( Fisher, 2002 ) revealed very similar patterns.     

Motivating protégés' personal learning in teams: a multilevel investigation of autonomy support and autonomy orientation

This study examined the roles of 3 multilevel motivational predictors in protégés' personal learning in teams: an autonomy-supportive team climate, mentors' autonomy support, and protégés' autonomy orientation. The authors followed 305 protégés in 58 teams for 12 weeks and found that all 3 predictors were positively related to the protégés' personal learning in teams and that an autonomy-supportive team climate augmented the effects of mentors' autonomy support and protégés' autonomy orientation on protégés' personal learning in teams. Protégés' personal learning in teams mediated the interactive effects of an autonomy-supportive team climate with mentors' autonomy support or protégés' autonomy orientation on protégés' behavioral and attitudinal outcomes, including their organizational citizenship behaviors and job involvement. The findings of this study provide business researchers and practitioners with valuable insights into the management of autonomy.     

Use of an Orientation Session May Help Decrease Attrition in a Pediatric Weight Management Program for Low-Income Minority Adolescents

This study examined predictors of attrition from a pediatric weight-control program in a low-income minority community and the potential usefulness of an orientation session to increase length of treatment. Participants were 342 children and adolescents (M age=13.0 years old; 54% female; 89% African American; M BMI=44.2, M BMI z-score=6.0) and their caregivers who attended FitMatters, a multidisciplinary cognitive-behavioral program focused on long-term participation. Those who attended an orientation session stayed in treatment significantly longer, but attrition was not affected by demographic factors, weight status, or psychological functioning. These results indicate that an orientation session that clearly delineates the structure of a program and expected attitudinal and behavioral requirements for the families may help align expectations, as well as more effectively identify families who are ready to make concerted efforts to change the family lifestyle in support of their obese children's efforts.     

Perceived similarity, proactive adjustment, and organizational socialization

The present study explores how perceived demographic and attitudinal similarity can influence proactive behavior among organizational newcomers. We propose that newcomers who perceive themselves as similar to their co-workers will be more willing to seek new information or build relationships, which in turn will lead to better long-term adjustment. Results from a three-wave field investigation of newcomer proactive behavior show that newcomer perceptions of surface-level similarity to the rest of the work group in education and gender increased proactive adjustment behavior. Contrary to our expectations, perceived similarity in terms of age decreased proactive adjustment behavior—in other words, newcomers who were significantly different from their co-workers in age engaged in more proactive adjustment behaviors. Deep-level similarity in terms of work style was associated with higher levels of role clarity, but this relationship was not mediated by proactive adjustment behavior.     

Attitude similarity and familiarity and their links to mental health: An examination of potential interpersonal mediators

Similarity and familiarity with partner’s attitudes are linked to positive relationship outcomes, while interpersonal variables have been linked to mental health. Using multilevel models (MLMs), we modeled the associations between these attitudinal variables and mental health outcomes in 74 married couples. We found that higher levels of attitude similarity in couples were linked to lower depression, while higher levels of attitude familiarity in couples were associated with greater satisfaction with life. Mediational analyses indicated marital satisfaction and interpersonal stress mediated the link between attitude similarity and depression. Marital satisfaction also mediated the link between familiarity and satisfaction with life. This study is the first linking attitude familiarity to mental health and provides evidence that familiarity and similarity have mental health effects partly due to their interpersonal consequences.     

Mentoring in academia: An examination of the experiences of protégés of color

This study examines the mentoring experiences of African, Hispanic, and Native-American protégés in an academic setting. In doing so we consider whether surface-level and deep-level similarity are related to relationship satisfaction and perceived levels of support. Specifically, we consider whether for protégés of color, having a mentor who is also of color and/or who is perceived as having similar values is positively associated with satisfaction and support. Additionally, we examine from the perspective of those who mentor protégés of color, whether their relationship satisfaction is associated with having a protégé who is similar or different with regards to race/ethnicity and perceived value similarity. Finally, we consider the mediating roles of interpersonal comfort and commitment. Our results indicate that graduate students of color receive more psychosocial and instrumental support from, and are more satisfied with mentors of color. Further, interpersonal comfort and commitment mediate the relationships between surface and deep-level similarity and mentoring outcomes.     

COMPARISON OF EARLY RETIREES AND NON-RETIREES

A group of 250 early retirees and a similar group of 422 nonretired Civil Service employees were compared on demographic, experience and job attitude variables. Consistent with earlier published studies, demographic, health, and income variables accounted for approximately three times as much variance in the retirement status variable as did the motivational and attitudinal variables. Retirees reported that their jobs afforded less Autonomy, Skill Variety, Opportunity to Deal with Others, and less intrinsic satisfaction, but more Feedback from Others relative to nonretirees. Analysis of the demographic variables indicated retirees were more likely to be female, have less financial commitments, and have had more jobs in their career. It is suggested that the retirement decision may represent a positive attempt on the part of individuals to pursue more challenging, interesting activities, and that longitudinal research be initiated to explore in more detail the determinants of the retirement decision and subsequent retirement satisfaction.     

Understanding the psychological processes of the racial match effect in Asian Americans

Some studies on mental health outcomes research have found that when clients and therapists are ethnically or racially matched, this tends to be related to greater satisfaction and better outcomes. However, the precise underlying mechanism for the match effect has not been extensively examined. In this experimental study, we tested the effect of racial match on critical counseling processes (i.e., therapist credibility and the working alliance) using a sample of 171 Asian American respondents. We also examined Asian ethnic identification as a potential moderator of the racial match effect. Structural equation modeling analyses indicated that racially matched individuals perceived greater experiential similarity with the therapist than nonmatched individuals, and experiential similarity was positively associated with therapist credibility. Although racial match did not predict attitudinal similarity, attitudinal similarity was strongly related to the working alliance and therapist credibility. Counseling implications are discussed.     

Attitudinal versus ecological approaches to the characterization of institutional treatment environments

The relational and discriminative properties of attitudinal and ecological measures of environments were examined within the context of a state hospital for mentally retarted clients. Three hypotheses were advanced, and the results gave substantial support for one of these and partial support for a second: (a) that the correlations between attitudinal and ecological measures should not differ significantly from zero, and (b) that differences among hospital treatment programs and living units should be reflected in ecological but not in attitudinal measures. However, the results did not provide clear confirmation for a third hypothesis: that differences among staff demographic characteristics and employment history should be reflected in attitudinal but not in ecological measures. It was suggested that these background variables may not be appropriate measures of personality-linked attributes.     

Friendship and similarities in social-cognitive and communication abilities: Social skill bases of interpersonal attraction in childhood

Although researchers have examined how different forms of similarity (e.g., demographic similarity, attitudinal similarity) affect interpersonal attraction, little work has focused on how similarities in social-cognitive abilities and communication skills affect attraction and relationship development. The present article suggests how the similarity/attraction literature and filter theories of relationship development can be integrated with research on social skills and cognitive development to provide a framework for understanding how similarities in levels of social skills may affect attraction and friendship formation in childhood. A study was carried out assessing how similarities in levels of social-cognitive and communication skills affected interpersonal attraction and friendship choices by children. It was hypothesized that children would be (a) attracted to and (b) more likely to form friendships with peers who had social-cognitive and communication skills similar in level to their own. Participants (92 grade school children) completed a battery of tasks providing assessments of four social-cognitive and five communication skills. Sociometric procedures were used to determine interpersonal attraction and friendship patterns. Results indicated that children were attracted to peers having social skill levels similar to their own. Moreover, pairs of friends had similar levels of skills related to the expression and management of emotional states.     

Workplace Family Support,Parental Satisfaction,and Work–Family Conflict: Individual and Crossover Effects among Dual‐Earner Couples

Workplace family support has been regarded as a factor that helps reduce individuals' work to family conflict (WFC). How this support translates into families' functioning is still to be determined. In this study, we used a systems perspective to examine (a) how perceptions of workplace family support affect parental satisfaction and consequently reduce WFC and (b) how the perception of support affects partners' parental satisfaction and WFC in dual‐earner couples. A two‐wave dyadic data set of dual‐earner couples with preschool‐aged children (N = 90) was used, and the actor‐partner interdependence mediation model (APIMeM) was applied. Results showed that controlling for WFC, working hours, number and age of children, mothers' perceptions of workplace family support (time 1) had indirect effects, through mothers' parental satisfaction (time 1), on their own levels of WFC (time 2) as well as on their partners' levels of WFC (time 2). Fathers' perceptions of workplace family support (time 1) had a direct effect on fathers' parental satisfaction (time 1) and on fathers' WFC (time 2). These results suggest that in addition to boosting parental well‐being, perceptions of a supportive workplace may help reduce the level of WFC for both direct recipients of support and their partners, in particular when support is experienced by mothers, and when these mothers experience heightened parental satisfaction.     

Marital Processes Linking Gender Role Attitudes and Marital Satisfaction Among Mexican‐Origin Couples: Application of an Actor–Partner Interdependence Mediation Model

Informed by dyadic approaches and culturally informed, ecological perspectives of marriage, we applied an actor–partner interdependence mediation model (APIMeM) in a sample of 120 Mexican‐origin couples to examine (a) the associations linking Mexican immigrant husbands’ and wives’ gender role attitudes to marital satisfaction directly and indirectly through marital processes (i.e., warmth and negativity) and (b) whether the associations between spouses’ gender role attitudes and marital processes were moderated by wives’ employment. Although previous research has identified spouses’ gender role attitudes as potential predictors of spouses’ marital satisfaction, no study has examined these links in a dyadic model that elucidates how gender role attitudes may operate through processes to shape marital satisfaction and conditions under which associations may differ. We found that when spouses reported less sex‐typed attitudes, their partners reported feeling more connected to them and more satisfied with the marriage, regardless of whether wives were employed. Our results suggest that marital satisfaction was highest for those Mexican‐origin couples in which marital partners were less sex‐typed in their attitudes about marital roles to the extent that partners’ attitudinal role flexibility promoted spouses’ feelings of warmth and connection to their partner.     

EFFECTS OF AMOUNT, FORMAT, AND LOCATION OF DEMOGRAPHIC INFORMATION ON QUESTIONNAIRE RETURN RATE AND RESPONSE BIAS OF SENSITIVE AND NONSENSITIVE ITEMS

Three characteristics of demographic questionnaire items were manipulated on a job satisfaction survey administered to 888 faculty members in order to assess effects on survey return rate and response bias. Demographic factors analyzed were Amount (number of demographic items), Format (questionnaires with all categorical answers versus those with a combination of categorical and continuous answers), and Location (demographic items placed before versus being placed after attitudinal items). Analysis of the 461 questionnaires which were returned revealed significant results for the Format rnanipulation, in that responses indicating higher satisfaction were obtained when the survey instrument contained questions which required both categorical and continuous answers rather than only questions requiring categorical responses. Also, this format-induced response bias occurred more frequently among sensitive than nonsensitive job satisfaction items. Implications of the results for questionnaire design are discussed.