Examining career-related mentoring and managerial performance across cultures: A multilevel analysis

The benefits of the mentoring relationship for protégés have been a primary focus in the mentoring literature. Researchers have recently begun to examine how mentoring can benefit the mentor. The purpose of the present study is to examine whether direct report-ratings of a manager’s career-related mentoring behaviors are related to boss-ratings of that manager’s performance. In addition, this study assesses whether the cultural background of the manager moderates the career-related mentoring-performance relationship via multilevel methodology. Results reveal that managers who are rated by their direct reports as engaging in career-related mentoring behaviors are perceived as better performers by their bosses. Moreover, the GLOBE societal culture dimension of Performance Orientation was a significant cross-level moderator of the career-related mentoring-performance relationship. Implications for the practice of mentoring in cross-cultural contexts across multiple disciplines are discussed.     

Future Colleague or Convenient Friend: The Ethics of Mentorship

Student mentoring is a common and often encouraged practice within graduate psychology and counseling programs. Although both mentors and protégés typically report multiple benefits from the practice, the mentoring relationship is also subject to a variety of ethical issues. The author presents a brief overview of professional literature regarding mentoring relationships, including key features and stages of development of these relationships, and then addresses potential ethical concerns. Guidelines and implications for ethical mentoring practice are also presented to encourage more specific attention to this vital component of counselor training.     

Mentoring college-age women: a relational approach

Despite the popularity of mentoring programs, the relational dimension of mentoring has not been elucidated. Traditional conceptions of mentoring may exclude factors that are particularly important for women and girls, thus limiting the efficacy of mentoring programs for female adolescents. We suggest that the presence of relational qualities in the mentoring relationship (e.g., empathy, engagement, authenticity, and empowerment) strongly influences the success of mentoring in the lives of young women. In this study, we use a promising new measure of mentoring, the Relational Health Index – Mentor, to explore the impact of relational aspects of mentoring in female college students. We found that mentoring relationships high in relational qualities were associated with higher self-esteem and less loneliness.     

Formal Mentoring in Military Academies

We examined the relationship between mentoring functions and protégé outcomes in formal mentoring relationships in military academies. A total of 424 (listed as 424 under Method) freshmen and 659 senior cadets from six different military academies participated in the survey. Results of hierarchical multiple regression analyses suggest that career mentoring was positively related to mentor satisfaction and participants' provision of career mentoring to their protégés. Surprisingly, career mentoring was negatively related to freshmen's commitment to a military career. We found that psychosocial mentoring was positively related to mentor satisfaction and participants' commitment to a military career, leadership competency, and provision of psychosocial mentoring to their protégés. Furthermore, psychological mentoring was negatively related to stress. We discuss these findings and their implications for mentoring research and practices in the military.     

Mentoring Relationships and Programs for Youth

ABSTRACT— Mentoring is one of the most popular social interventions in American society, with an estimated three million youth in formal one-to-one relationships. Studies have revealed significant associations between youth involvement in mentoring relationships and positive developmental outcomes. These associations are modest, however, and depend on several intervening processes. Centrally important is the formation of close, enduring connections between mentors and youth that foster positive developmental change. Effects of mentoring programs likewise typically have been small in magnitude, but they increase systematically with the use of program practices likely to support relationship development. Gaps between research and practice are evident both in the indiscriminate use of the term mentoring in the prevention field and in a focus on the growth and efficiency of mentoring programs at the expense of quality. Continued expansion of effective mentoring will require a better alignment of research and practice.     

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。     

What do we talk about when we talk about mentoring? Blooms and thorns

The dialogue in the field of mentoring has changed over time. In the early days mentoring was a straightforward and pragmatic means to an end: developing others. The blooms of mentoring flowered everywhere. Then thorny issues started to be encountered, both in theory and in practice. Case studies are used here to illustrate the mixed fortunes experienced in contemporary times in three different organisations. A balance between mentoring blooms and mentoring thorns is evident in each case. Three major themes are then identified from these case studies that raise questions for the mentoring discourse. These are: different views of systems thinking, different value bases for evaluating mentoring, and different ideas about the kind of relationship mentoring ought to be. In conclusion, there is a need for a balance: between on the one hand understanding these different positions to promote dialogue and on the other hand developing rivalries to animate dialogue in the first place.     

Does mentoring matter? A multidisciplinary meta-analysis comparing mentored and non-mentored individuals

The study of mentoring has generally been conducted within disciplinary silos with a specific type of mentoring relationship as a focus. The purpose of this article is to quantitatively review the three major areas of mentoring research (youth, academic, workplace) to determine the overall effect size associated with mentoring outcomes for protégés. We also explored whether the relationship between mentoring and protégé outcomes varied by the type of mentoring relationship (youth, academic, workplace). Results demonstrate that mentoring is associated with a wide range of favorable behavioral, attitudinal, health-related, relational, motivational, and career outcomes, although the effect size is generally small. Some differences were also found across type of mentoring. Generally, larger effect sizes were detected for academic and workplace mentoring compared to youth mentoring. Implications for future research, theory, and applied practice are provided.     

Enriching Mentoring Relationships

This article focuses on counselors' use of new research on mentoring relationships. The research indicated mentoring is a behavioral phenomenon not dependent on personal traits. Some other common assumptions were unsupported.     

Moving toward interdisciplinary dialogue in mentoring scholarship: An introduction to the Special Issue

The study of mentoring spans a wide range of disciplines including psychology, organizational behavior, education, and social work, among others. However, until recently there has been little interdisciplinary dialogue among mentoring scholars. In this Special Issue we attempt to lay the groundwork for interdisciplinary research on mentoring by examining this phenomenon through the lens of youth mentoring, academic mentoring, and workplace mentoring. In this introduction we outline the aims of this Special Issue, provide a common definition of mentoring to guide the reader through the articles that follow, summarize the knowledge gained from the included articles, and offer insight into what we believe are important next steps for developing a multidisciplinary perspective on mentoring.     

Career And Relationship Satisfaction Among Female Faculty in Marriage and Family Therapy Programs

This study explored career and relationship satisfaction of women faculty in accredited marital and family therapy (MFT) programs. Faculty were more satisfied with teaching duties than research or service duties and more satisfied with service than research duties. A backwards multiple regression procedure showed that the combined variables of psychosocial mentoring functions, expanded service duties, and having received an award for research or service were associated with greater levels of career satisfaction while career mentoring functions were associated with reduced levels of career satisfaction. Implications and suggestions for improving the academic climate are presented for institutions, MFT programs, the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy (AAMFT), and the Commission on Accreditation for Marriage and Family Therapy Education (COAMFTE).     

Culturally Congruent Mentoring: Predicting Asian American Student Participation Using the Theory of Reasoned Action1

Predictors of Asian American first‐year college students’ intention to participate in a culturally congruent mentoring program was empirically documented using Ajzen and Fishbein's (1980) theory of reasoned action (TRA). Intention to participate was predicted by the belief that participation eases transition to college. Also, attitude toward participation was positively related to students’ beliefs that participation will strengthen ethnic identity and combat model‐minority myth. With 78% of students who intended to participate, results suggest that Asian American college students need programming that addresses issues as first‐year college students and those related to their cultural experience. The use of the TRA to better understand issues related to peer mentoring is illuminated. Wider implications for implementing culturally congruent mentoring programs in educational settings are discussed.     

Mentorship and the Female College President

Despite the increase in the number of women college presidents, the percentage of female college presidents is disproportionately low. Results of some studies imply that mentorship is one factor that facilitates women’s climb up the administrative ladder to the college presidency. This study was designed to examine mentoring relationships among female college presidents. A sample of 91 female presidents at selected independent colleges was surveyed about mentor and mentee relationships and demographics. Findings demonstrate that a majority of the respondents had primary mentors (56%) and also served as mentors (64.4%) to others. Mentorship and multiple mentoring relationships are invaluable in advancing women through the ranks of higher education administration and for increasing the number of female college presidents.     

Multiple mentoring in academe: Developing the professorial network

Previous studies in business organizations have shown that mentoring provides numerous benefits for both individuals and organizations. Most of this mentoring research has been based on traditional, hierarchical mentor-protégé relationships in non-academic settings. We discuss why there is little empirical research on faculty mentoring and review changes in professors’ careers that necessitate a fresh look at this issue. We suggest that because of environmental changes, the traditional model of professors being guided throughout their careers by one primary mentor, usually the dissertation advisor, may no longer be realistic or desirable. Instead, professors may be better served by a portfolio of mentors (Baugh & Scandura, 1999; Higgins & Kram, 2001) who facilitate the protégé’s development of career competencies. Building on the work of intelligent careers (DeFillippi & Arthur, 1996), we examine how the career competencies of knowing why, how, and whom interact with learning demands to produce the need for faculty to develop multiple mentoring relationships across their academic career. We build on this conceptualization by considering the role of signaling of career competencies (Jones, 2002) in developing the professorial network, offering managerial implications in developing mentoring programs, and discussing avenues for future research.     

Perceived support for mentoring: A multiple perspectives approach

Two studies were conducted to examine how perceptions of support for mentoring relate to mentoring attitudes and outcomes for both protégés and mentors, over and above established predictors. In study 1, protégés provided information on their perceptions of support for mentoring and mentoring received. As expected, perceived management support for mentoring was positively related to career-related and psychosocial support; and perceived mentor accountability for mentoring was negatively related to mentoring problems. In study 2, we examined mentors’ perceptions of support for mentoring in relation to their willingness to mentor others in the future and the extent to which they viewed their current relationship as complementary. Mentors’ perceptions of management support for mentoring were positively related to their belief that mentoring relationships were mutually beneficial. However, consistent with theories of self-determination, as mentors’ perceptions of their own accountability in the relationship increased their willingness to mentor others in the future decreased. Implications for mentoring theory, future research, and applied practice are discussed.     

Antecedents and Consequences of Perceived Barriers to Obtaining Mentoring: A Longitudinal Investigation

Mentoring is prototypically intended to advance the personal and professional growth of new employees at work. Although meta‐analyses have found that receiving mentoring can result in beneficial outcomes for employees' career success, employees may perceive barriers to obtaining a mentor. The present research examined antecedents and consequences to perceived barriers to mentoring in business and administrative jobs in a field study over 2 years. Socioeconomic origin, positive affectivity, organizational development culture, and previous mentoring experience predicted perceived barriers to mentoring after 2 years. New employees' perceived barriers to mentoring at Time 1 predicted changes in mentoring received and income after 2 years. Implications of this study, including a proposed mentoring training program, and directions for future research are discussed.     

Self-initiated mentoring and career success: A predictive field study

There is a growing recognition of the proactive role of individuals in the world of work. Therefore, the roles of self-initiated mentoring and networking behaviors at the work place were investigated in a longitudinal study over two years with 121 early career employees in administrative and managerial jobs. As expected, after controlling for age, gender, and general intelligence, self-initiated mentoring predicted mentoring received, income, and hierarchical position. The relationship between self-initiated mentoring and career ascendancy was not meditated by mentoring received but by networking behaviors at the work place. The receipt of mentoring can be a part of the early career success yet it is not its critical mediator. Implications and limitations are discussed.     

Youth mentoring: The American Dream comes to the UK?

This paper examines the ways in which the North American experience has influenced youth mentoring programmes in the UK and focuses on the theoretical assumptions about young people which have underpinned mentoring interventions. A more critical approach to this North American 'legacy' is required if the value of this form of intervention is to be accurately assessed. The paper argues that an over-reliance by mentoring interventions on developmental paradigms has curtailed their capacity to take account of the wider social context in which young people are making their transitions to adulthood. It is suggested that alternative theoretical frameworks which address the complexity and multiplicity of youth transitions hold more promise for understanding and theorising the role of mentoring in the UK setting. A recent Scottish study of informal mentoring processes attempted to open up these theoretical possibilities by using a framework which recognised young people as active participants and agents. This study revealed that a range of models of mentoring may be in place within informal mentoring relationships. The paper argues that findings from this study demonstrated a need for a more critical approach to the 'classic notion' of mentoring as exclusively a one to one relationship between an adult and a young person. Since mentoring is now a highly popular form of intervention with 'socially excluded' young people these questions about the theoretical base for the concept require urgent attention.     

Mentoring in Dutch vocational education: an unfulfilled promise

Between 1998 and 2002 an estimated 250 mentoring programmes were started in Dutch secondary vocational education in order to decrease motivational problems and drop-out rates, especially among youngsters from ethnic minorities. Currently there are only two schools in secondary vocational education that include mentoring as part and parcel of their system of guidance and counselling. The vast majority of mentoring programmes do not run for more than two years. The main reason for this seems to be the absence of a vision of mentoring that explains how and why it works – a vision that is shared by mentors, teachers and school managers. In this article, data presented from four different case studies on mentoring in Dutch vocational education showed that the absence of a shared vision resulted in vague, often contradictory, and conflicting perspectives and actions taken by all parties involved in the mentoring scheme. In fact, because no synergy existed, the mentoring programmes had a marginal position in schools and disappeared as soon as external funding stopped.     

Learning the Ropes: The Protective Role of Mentoring in Correctional Police Officers’ Socialization Process

Formal mentoring is an individualized and contextualized socialization tactic to enhance newcomers’ learning—acknowledged as essential in the early career stage—that can be of particular value when entering a fairly unpredictable and stressful workplace. This research aims to understand the moderating role of formal mentoring in the relationship between organizational socialization and 2 adjustment indicators, a positive 1 (commitment) and a negative 1 (turnover intention). A questionnaire was administered to 117 correctional police officer newcomers, as prisons are especially critical work contexts for newcomers. The results show a direct effect from both socialization and mentoring on commitment and turnover, and an interaction between socialization and mentoring on turnover, although not on commitment. When the socialization process progresses steadily, both socialization and mentoring contribute to good adjustment, but when traditional tactics go wrong, a different learning source (formal mentoring) exerts a protective function, limiting newcomers’ intention to quit. These findings give support to the usefulness of mentoring in a law enforcement context and provide some insight into defining formal mentoring programs.