Cross-cultural Mentoring Research Articles

From group mentoring to collective liberation: The imperative to decolonize nursing academia

Four Black early-career faculty members, one Black doctoral student, a Black senior faculty member, (herein referred to as scholars), previously engaged in cross-cultural mentoring with a White senior researcher to bolster their scholarship. In the years following the 2020 racial reckoning, the scholars were motivated to reconvene by the realization that traditional scholarship activities of academia ignore historical educational oppression and fail to account for the contemporary effects of racism and discrimination rooted in American colonialism. Collaborative autoethnography, a decolonizing qualitative approach to research, was used to explicate our journeys in academia. The tenets of Freire’s critical pedagogy (conscientização, scholarship, praxis) framed our collective experiences. We describe resisting academic structures of power, discrimination, and disadvantage through reformation, crafting a vision statement and utilizing positions of influence. To decolonize nursing academia, we invite the scholarly community to pursue liberation and contest structures that center Whiteness and marginalize collectivism and collaboration.

Cross-Cultural Mentorship in Military Family Medicine: Defining the Problem.

Mentorship is critical to physician recruitment, career development, and retention. Many underrepresented in medicine (URiM) physicians experience minority taxes that can undermine their professional objectives. Use of cross-cultural mentoring skills to navigate differences between non-URiM and URiM physicians can make mentorship relationships with URiM physicians more effective. This survey examined military family physician demographics and mentorship practices. Design and Setting: Cross-sectional study using voluntary, anonymous data from the 2021 Uniformed Services Academy of Family Physicians (USAFP) Annual Meeting Omnibus Survey. USAFP Members attending 2021 Virtual Annual Meeting. None. Descriptive statistics and χ2 tests. The response rate to the omnibus survey was 52.9%, n=258. More than half of respondents did not have a URiM mentee and had not collaborated with a URiM colleague on a scholarly activity within the last 3 years. Only 54.7% of respondents could recognize and address minority taxes. URiM physicians were more likely to have a URiM mentee (65.4% vs 44.4%, P=.042) and to recognize and address minority taxes (84.6% vs 51.3%, P=.001). They also were more confident (84.6% vs 60.3%, P=.015) and more skilled in discussing racism (80.8% vs 58.2%, P=.026). Structured programs are needed to improve knowledge and skills to support cross-cultural mentorship. Additional studies are needed to further evaluate and identify implementation strategies.

A Corporate Mentoring Program Cross-Cultural Experience and the Impact on Self-Identity for Students From an Urban Community

Cross-cultural mentoring can lead to personal development through experiencing cultural differences that cultivate individual virtues and values. Culture is an aspect of self-identity. Self-identity for adolescents is important for their long-term development. This study examines a corporate mentoring program that offers a cross-cultural experience for participants. It aimed to determine if the mentoring program influenced participants’ self-identity and if there was a correlation between culture and their self-identity. The study was guided by identity control theory. A 10-question Likert scale survey was administered to the 20 urban high school students at the completion of their mentoring program for the academic year, which included nine sessions. The study found that the corporate mentoring program did impact the self-identity of urban youth; however, there was no correlation between the cross-cultural experience and their self-identity. This finding adds to the research on youth identity formation. Further research is needed on how different cultural influences may contribute to youth identity formation.

Cross-Cultural Mentoring Relationship in International Chemistry and Biology Undergraduate Research Experiences

Cross-Cultural Mentoring Relationship in International Chemistry and Biology Undergraduate Research Experiences

Fostering a diverse mentoring dynamic in art therapy

A cross-cultural mentoring dyad that emerges from a more internally motivated, non-obligatory relationship has the potential to co-evolve into a collaborative awareness of diverse educational experiences, cultural perspectives, and critical examinations. We present our rationale and benefits for a successful mentoring foundation built on trust that was first initiated to discuss shared experiences of working with profoundly challenging forensic populations. The value of converging and diverging viewpoints between us, further informing a deeper examination and reflections on our own identities and dynamics of power, eventually evolved into a goal-focused endeavor such as writing and publishing. Ultimately, we emphasize the value of mentoring within and for the art therapy community, particularly to amplify diverse connections and learning, one relationship at a time.

Comradery and connection: A study of cross-cultural mentoring experiences

This study looks at cross-cultural mentoring relationships among a group of librarians from the United States to explore the programmatic and interpersonal factors associated with positive mentoring experiences. Through a survey and follow-up conversations with several respondents, the authors were able to identify common themes that mentors and mentees described as important in their relationships, particularly when the mentoring partners did not share the same racial or ethnic identities. The authors conclude with recommendations for mentoring program design and participation that reflect more inclusive practices.

Chinese Preservice Teachers' Perspectives of Mentoring Relationships in an International Learning Partnership.

Mentoring is an essential fixture of teacher education. With growing opportunities for international learning exchanges, there is a need to better understand how cross-cultural mentoring can be characterized by reciprocal learning. This study investigated mentee perceptions of the mentoring relationship in an international, cross-cultural teacher education exchange. We conducted research among 19 Chinese preservice teachers who participated in an international teacher education exchange program, exploring their perspectives on the cross-cultural mentoring relationship and mutual learning. Our findings suggest that learning outcomes are improved in a mentoring relationship when there are strong relational ties, opportunities for reciprocal learning, and a greater awareness of cultural complexity. We contend that there is value in supporting the mentoring relationship directly, which has implications for both international exchanges and teacher education programs.

Cross-cultural mentoring in higher education: the use of a cultural identity development model

ABSTRACT The purpose of this article is to examine the role that cultural identity development plays in understanding cross-cultural mentoring encounters between White faculty and faculty of color. The authors apply a theory adaptation to present the components of a conceptual framework for developing mentoring approaches that consider a person’s cultural identity stage of development. Using a systematic approach, the authors consider the fundamental principles of cultural identity development theory combined with higher education contextual conditions, resulting in an approach by which mentors and protégés could govern their interactions. We conclude with implications for mentoring program administrators, faculty, and leaders in higher education.

How Does Cross Cultural Mentoring Program Influence International Students' Professional Commitment?

How Does Cross Cultural Mentoring Program Influence International Students' Professional Commitment?

7 - Reflections on an Innovative Mentoring Partnership Facilitators and Inhibitors to Success in Faculty Development

The need for more interactive, learner-centred pedagogies at Aga Khan University in East Africa led to the development of a partnership with Academics without Borders (AWB). AWB recruited three nursing faculty volunteers to provide mentorship to the nursing faculty at the three Aga Khan University Advanced Nursing Studies campuses in East Africa. As part of the evaluation and as a strategy to improve the quality of the mentoring and the project, the authors developed an action research study to identify facilitators and inhibitors to the success of this inter-cultural initiative. In this article, the authors share their observations and reflections as recorded in journal entries and postings to an online site as well as the results of a strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) analysis completed by mentees, mentors and project coordinators. Finally, the authors share their thoughts on the implications for future cross-cultural mentoring relationships at Aga Khan University and the potential for assisting others in similar relationships.

Determining Cross-Cultural Mentorship Readiness in Counselor Education and Supervision Programs

Counselor Education and Supervision (CES) faculty are challenged to include cross-cultural mentorship within CES programs. Successfully implementing cross-cultural mentoring in CES programs requires assessing institutional and CES program readiness and identifying successful strategies. This article outlines a proposed framework to evaluate requisites for cross-cultural mentorship across levels of institutions of higher education and provides strategies to help CES faculty successfully engage and sustain cross-cultural mentorship. What is the public significance of this article? Society and educational programs continue to grow in cultural, racial, and ethnic diversity. As a result, counselor education programs and the systems within which they function will need to adapt to meet the needs of a diverse population of professional counselors, students, and counselor educators. This article enriches the ongoing dialogue on competent cross-cultural mentorship within counselor education programs across various system levels.

Challenges confronting the ‘One Belt One Road’ initiative: Social networks and cross-cultural adjustment in CPEC projects

The China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is the flagship program of China’s ‘One Belt One Road’ initiative, created to boost economic cooperation between China and Pakistan. The aims of economic efficiency and enhancement of national interests are widely acknowledged in the literature. Yet, critical issues of developing the capabilities of cross-cultural management in general, and cross-cultural adjustment through cross-cultural understanding and network building in particular, have been largely overlooked. The current research investigates the challenges confronting cross-cultural adjustment among the Chinese and Pakistani employees participating in the CPEC projects. Through a rigorous analysis, we highlight the importance of acculturation experience, cross-cultural networking (i.e. heterophilic), networking behaviour (i.e. guanxi vs. hawala), and factors influencing cross-cultural adjustment, which would enhance the overall performance of the CPEC projects. Our aim is to contribute to the understanding of contextual and condition-driven networking behaviour for cross-cultural adjustment, particularly the need for cross-cultural networking. We contend that organisations in cross-cultural/cross-border projects should encourage cross-cultural mentoring and facilitate cross-national networks to increase the efficacy of such collaborative projects.

Cross-Cultural Mentoring: Cultural Awareness & Identity Empowerment

Practices of mentoring programs often match mentors and mentees who are from similar backgrounds (i.e., same-culture mentoring). Both practices and studies on mentoring disregard possibilities in cross-cultural mentoring (CCM) where mentors or mentees are from different cultural (i.e., national or racial) backgrounds. This paper investigates students’ experiences in CCM in terms of the influence of mentors’/mentees’ cultural backgrounds on their identity development and cultural awareness. Five in-depth interviews were conducted with CCM mentors and mentees. Vignettes of CCM experiences are presented that reflect the impact and meaning of CCM for mentors and mentees. Types of CCM are identified and learning opportunities and challenges for students in CCM are revealed. This study challenges the status quo that only same-culture mentoring could benefit students since CCM is proven to empower the identity of mentors and mentees and cultivate their social skills including self-awareness and cultural recognition. Strategies are offered for students engaging in CCM to navigate opportunities and challenges. Recommendations are provided for higher education institutions to build community, diversity, and inclusion in higher education.

Cross-Cultural Mentoring in Counselor Education: A Call to Action

Given the lack of formalized cross-cultural mentorship guidelines within professional counseling associations and accreditation programs, the recruitment and retention of marginalized graduate students, may be in jeopardy. The authors explored the value of mentoring for graduate students, the exponential growth rate of diversity within graduate programs, and how the disparity of marginalized faculty members creates a need and opportunity for cross-cultural mentorship. Recommendations for the creation of holistic cross-culturalmentorship guidelines for faculty-student dyads are provided.

Cross-cultural mentoring

This paper offers insight from an informal cross-cultural mentoring experience of course development in higher education framed by the UNESCO Chair on Open Technologies for Open Educational Resources and Open Learning project. The Open Education for a Better World is a tuition-free international online mentoring program established to unlock the potential of open education in achieving the United Nation Sustainable Development Goals. Drawing from mentor/protégé conversations and reflections, and examining the experiences of mentoring in the development of an online course for Indian teacher education faculty development, the authors illuminate a pathway toward building professional relationships and professional learning beyond borders and boundaries. This paper describes how mentorship can develop digital competencies foundational for transferring tacit knowledge about planning, designing, recording, implementing, and evaluating teaching and learning in education. Explicit knowledge-building for professional learning within a supportive mentoring relationship is explored.

Learning to See Teaching as a Cultural Activity: U.S. Preservice Teachers’ Significant Experiences With Nepali Mentor Teachers During an International Field Experience

ABSTRACTPreparing educators to understand teaching as a cultural activity is a crucial element of teacher education programs. International field experiences have shown to accomplish this goal when combined with cross-cultural mentoring and critical reflection. This qualitative eight-month study used ethnographic methods to examine significant experiences of six U.S. preservice teachers while being mentored by five Nepali teachers at an early childhood center in Kathmandu. Findings illustrated how the preservice teachers negotiated their significant experiences around: 1) care routines, 2) adult-child relationship, 3) curriculum & materials, 4) mentor-mentee relationship, and 5) language differences. Findings indicated that the preservice teachers navigated significant experiences by using practices that tended to accept the Nepali school culture or, at times, by displaying perceived privilege and entitlement over the Nepali school culture. More specifically, the preservice teachers showed acceptance of Nepali cultural scripts related to the themes of care routines and adult-child relationships by following practices of the mentor teachers, but their perceived privilege and entitlement were evident when confronting the Nepali cultural scripts related to the themes of curriculum materials and mentor-mentee relationships. Implications focus on why intercultural conflicts might have occurred as well as recommendations to prepare educators to understand teaching as a cultural activity.

Literature review: the gap between mentoring theory and practice for diverse women faculty

ABSTRACTMentoring remains a beneficial resource for faculty career advancement. Yet, women faculty across African, Latinx, Asian, and Native American Diasporas often report their career advancement needs are unfulfilled by mentors. As a result, a gap exists between mentoring theory and practical application in higher education. Some scholars identified one factor contributing to this gap is Caucasian mentors not addressing faculty gendered and ethnic intersectional identity and the implications of that identity in the professoriate. Also, mentoring literature discussions omit the importance of facilitating learning, particularly when exploring the needs of women faculty across ethnic groups. I explored the gap between the proposed functions of mentoring and the challenges of cross-cultural mentoring and learning as a component of mentoring. The aim is to bridge the gap between theory and practice by providing readers with key mentor behaviors identified in qualitative and quantitative research that facilitate learning.

Cross-cultural academic mentoring dyads: a case study

ABSTRACTMentoring and diversity are disparate elements of interest within universities. We used a descriptive case study to provide an understanding of the interaction between diversity and the academic mentoring process. The conceptual framework is two-fold: (a) that mentoring relationships progressed through four phases: Initiation, Cultivation, Separation and Redefinition; and (b) that mentors play four roles: Advisor, Instructor, Employer, and Agent of Socialization. Interviews with a cross-cultural mentoring dyad consisting of a graduate student and her mentor revealed that the dyad had experienced the first two of the mentoring phases (Initiation and Cultivation) in their entirety, with elements of the second two phases (Separation and Redefinition) becoming apparent; and that the mentor had fulfilled all of the faculty roles. We identified how the four phases of mentoring relationships and the four faculty roles adopted within such relationships work in tandem across three broad stages of relational development.

Investigating the value of a peer-to-peer mentoring experience

Globalization of business skills has become critical as employers have a requirement for culturally adaptable marketing and business graduates who are “work ready” in either Australia or overseas. These students must have both discipline knowledge and soft skills including cultural competence. How students develop intercultural skills at university is discussed. Given that more than ninety percent of local university students do not participate in academic offshore experiences, a focus is on the internationalization-at-home activities that universities offer. This study looks at cross-cultural peer-to-peer mentoring. A paucity of research on the effect of these experiences further enhances the relevance of this topic. This research investigates whether Australian marketing and business students who undertake a cross-cultural peer-to-peer mentoring experience “at home” become more cross-culturally adaptable. A quasi experimental pre and post-test survey shows that this method of an "at home" cross-cultural experience has a significant effect on four of the cultural dimensions. They are Flexibility/Openness, Personal Autonomy, Perceptual Acuity and Fulfilment. This means that as a result of this study, the recommendation for future peer-to-peer mentoring experiences would be to specifically target these significant dimensions as part of the peer-to-peer mentoring agenda. The focus of their agenda on these dimensions would allow peer-to-peer mentors of different ethnicities and those mentors who are Australian born but who mentor students from different countries, to be confident that their work was directly attributable to increasing their mentees’ and their own cross-cultural adaptability. It shows that cross-cultural mentoring for marketing and other business students in an “at home” setting is an important part of preparing business and more specifically marketing students for the challenges of the global workplace.

Mentoring Underrepresented Minority in Medicine (URMM) Students Across Racial, Ethnic and Institutional Differences

Cross cultural mentoring for underrepresented minority in medicine (URMM) students has increased significance. It is especially important for non-URMM faculty and others from different backgrounds, ethnicities and cultures to know how to provide mentorship for URMM student success. This article provides approaches to mentorship for URMM students. Recommendations include mentoring around scholarly projects, identifying mentorship role, acknowledging personal attributes for mentoring, addressing racism, stereotypes and bias, collaborating with Historically Black Colleges and Universities and being attentive to the unique needs of URMM students.