Self-Other Rating Agreement in Mentoring

Abstract

This study used Atwater and Yammarino’s (1997) self-other rating agreement process model to examine whether mentor-protégé agreement regarding mentor transformational leadership would influence mentoring functions (i.e., psychosocial support and career development) and protégé outcomes (i.e., career satisfaction, job satisfaction, desired aspirations, enacted aspirations). Mentors in 217 mentor-protégé dyads were classified as over-estimators, under-estimators, in-agreement/poor, or in-agreement/good based on the difference between mentor's self-rating and protégé’s rating of mentor’s transformational leadership. Results of multivariate analysis of covariance indicated that protégés in over-estimator dyads reported the lowest levels of psychosocial support and career satisfaction. Protégés in under-estimator dyads reported higher levels of psychosocial support, career development, and enacted aspirations than in-agreement/poor and over-estimator dyads. Protégés in in-agreement/good dyads reported higher levels of psychosocial support than in-agreement/poor and over-estimator dyads. The practical implications of these results are discussed.