Attachment and mentoring

Abstract

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationships between attachment styles, mentoring (psychosocial support and career support), organizational commitment, and turnover intent of protégés in formal faculty mentoring.Design/methodology/approach– An internet survey was conducted with a population of 125 protégés in a formal faculty mentoring program at a US university.Findings– Results from linear regression analyses revealed that protégés’ secure attachment was positively and significantly related with their organizational commitment and was negatively and significantly related to intent to turnover. Additional linear regression analyses revealed that psychosocial support and career support were positively and significantly related with protégé organizational commitment and were negatively and significantly related to intent to turnover. Hierarchical regression showed that secure attachment alone was a unique predictor of protégés’ organizational commitment and intent to turnover. Further, attachment and career support interacted to predict both organizational commitment and intent to turnover.Research limitations/implications– Although psychosocial support and career support in mentoring influence organizational commitment and turnover intent, protégés who are securely attached experience more support. Furthermore, career support the positive association between secure attachment and organizational commitment and the negative association between secure attachment and turnover intent.Originality/value– Little research has specifically addressed attachment and its links to mentoring and organizational outcomes such as organizational commitment and turnover intent in the context of faculty mentoring. Therefore, the study contributes to the understanding of how attachment and mentoring influence organizational commitment and turnover intent in academe.