What Do Mentors Learn? The Role of Protégé Role Behavior and Relationship Quality in Mentor Learning

Abstract

Mentoring is defined as a reciprocal relationship between a less experienced individual (protégé) and a more experienced individual (mentor) that has consistent, regular contact over a period of time and is intended to promote mutual growth, learning, and development within the career context (Haggard, Dougherty, Turban & Wilbanks, 2011; Kram, 1985). Inherent in this definition of mentoring is that individuals learn, develop, and grow from their mentoring interactions. Despite this, limited research explores the learning that occurs from mentoring relationships. Drawing on the relational mentoring perspective (Ragins, 2012) and social learning theory (Bandura, 1971, 1977), the purpose of this study is to examine what mentors learn from mentoring experiences and how these experiences relate to mentor outcomes. The outcomes include mentoring self- efficacy, mentor learning, and mentor behavioral change intentions. We tested our assertions in a mixed methods study of 204 professor mentors. We found that mentors gained mentoring-specific, occupational-specific, and relational knowledge from mentoring their protégés. Additionally, mentors identified specific changes they wished to make to their mentoring behavior from their experiences with their protégés. Furthermore we found partial support for our mediated model which suggests that protégé role behaviors relate to mentor learning outcomes through mentor-protégé exchange.