The Impact of Organizational Context and Organization-Based Self-Esteem on Willingness to Mentor

Abstract

This study reveals influences from individual and organizational contextual factors on an employee’s willingness to be a mentor to others. Organization-based self-esteem, an important individual construct that was shown to affect willingness to be a mentor was itself, influenced by contextual factors such as, employee’s experience with downsizing, perceived organizational support, and threat of future downsizing. Hypotheses were evaluated through structural equation models for mediating influences of factors in the study. Results showed significant positive impact of perceived organizational support and organization-based self-esteem on willingness to be a mentor, and negative impact of downsizing experience on willingness to be a mentor. Organization-based self-esteem was found to mediate the relationship between perceived organizational support and an employee's willingness to be a mentor. Finally the perceived threat of future downsizing was found to negatively impact perceived organizational support.