Formal Mentoring Relationships Research Articles

Impact of gender on the formation and outcome of formal mentoring relationships in the life sciences.

Despite increasing representation in graduate training programs, a disproportionate number of women leave academic research without obtaining an independent position that enables them to train the next generation of academic researchers. To understand factors underlying this trend, we analyzed formal PhD and postdoctoral mentoring relationships in the life sciences during the years 2000 to 2020. Student and mentor gender are both associated with differences in rates of student's continuation to positions that allow formal academic mentorship. Although trainees of women mentors are less likely to take on positions as academic mentors than trainees of men mentors, this effect is reduced substantially after controlling for several measurements of mentor status. Thus, the effect of mentor gender can be explained at least partially by gender disparities in social and financial resources available to mentors. Because trainees and mentors tend to be of the same gender, this association between mentor gender and academic continuation disproportionately impacts women trainees. On average, gender homophily in graduate training is unrelated to mentor status. A notable exception to this trend is the special case of scientists having been granted an outstanding distinction, evidenced by membership in the National Academy of Sciences, being a grantee of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, or having been awarded the Nobel Prize. This group of mentors trains men graduate students at higher rates than their most successful colleagues. These results suggest that, in addition to other factors that limit career choices for women trainees, gender inequities in mentors' access to resources and prestige contribute to women's attrition from independent research positions.

Expanding Goal Aspiration for Low-Income, First-Generation, Latino Males Through Faculty, Staff, and Student Relationships

ABSTRACT Mentoring relationships between faculty, staff, and Latino college students play a pivotal role in their student success and sense of belonging. This personal reflection highlights how cross divisional collaborations in student affairs and academic affairs led to the creation of formal and informal mentoring relationships for Latino male students involved in a program for first-generation, low-income college students. The voices of three Latino students will be utilized to emphasize how strategic collaborations led to their enhanced sense of belonging and success at their institution.

Facilitating sporting and non-sporting career goals of elite athletes through mentoring programmes

ABSTRACT Research question Many elite athletes pursue higher education or professional employment alongside their sport career. Formal mentoring relationships help athletes to balance the demands of a dual career. Thus, the purpose of this study is to investigate the interrelationship between mentoring, values conveyed in mentoring, and the satisfaction with sporting and non-sporting career goals from a mentee and mentor perspective. This research contributes to the existing literature by examining how mentoring can help athletes attain their dual career goals from a holistic perspective. Research method Elite athletes (i.e. competing in international competitions; n = 105) and business professionals who function as mentors (n = 101) are surveyed regarding their satisfaction with the mentoring relationship and career goals. Logistic regression analyses assessed the proposed interrelationships. Results and Findings The career development function and conveying performance are positively associated with mentees’ multiple sporting and non-sporting career goals. Greater investment into mentees’ career development and the conveyance of performance and trust is positively associated with mentors’ satisfaction (i.e. supporting the mentee and achieving personal career benefits). Implications Conveying performance as value is crucial for increased positive outcomes for mentees, such as easy integration into the workplace and society. A mentor investing more time and consideration into the mentoring relationship increases the mentor and mentee’s satisfaction. A mentoring relationship founded on trust is precious for the mentor.

Fostering Effective Mentoring Relationships in Qualitative Research.

Conducting a qualitative research study is a long, arduous, and laborious endeavor. The novice and early-career researchers, including graduate students, can be overwhelmed by the complexity of the methods used in conducting a naturalistic inquiry. Despite the recognized importance of mentoring in different fields, a research supervisor is almost always used to guide the neophytes in their pursuit of completing a research investigation in nursing. Supervising is task-oriented, whereas mentoring involves caring, role-modeling, emotional support, and guidance including the long-term development of the mentee. Research mentoring relationships are critical to the satisfaction of both the mentor and the mentee that leads to a successful completion of a qualitative inquiry and, eventually, for their academic and professional advancement. Mentees are advised to seek mentors and to establish formal mentoring relationships with them. It is also suggested that institutions support the value and work of mentors. Future studies must address failed mentoring liaisons, and assess and use different strategies for effective mentorship for both the mentor and the mentee. The purpose of this article is to discuss the role of mentoring in successfully completing a scholarly inquiry that will help in equipping novices with the knowledge, skills, and confidence that will empower them to navigate the difficult and long journey of a qualitative investigation.

Decoding the Mentoring Experience for Registered Dietitian Nutritionists

Identify the preferences among Registered Dietitian Nutritionists for various types of formal and informal mentoring relationships along the continuum of career development.

Matching for High Quality Mentoring Relationships: Do Values Matter?

Formal mentoring programs have become a common human resource practice in organizations and academia to facilitate personal learning and development. However, formal mentoring relationships fall short of their informal counterparts, as they are seldom of exceptional high quality. Mentoring research emphasized the importance of deep-level matching criteria to increase relationship quality and mentoring support by creating the right chemistry between mentor and protégé. Drawing on the formal mentoring framework and the similarity-attraction paradigm, the present study examines the influence of actual value congruence on protégé perceived relationship quality and role modeling support. Moreover, specific relational processes through which high quality relationships are established, as well as proximal outcomes of these relationships, are investigated. We tested the proposed model in a longitudinal study using polynomial regression analyses with data obtained from a sample of 149 mentor-protégé dyads. Results mainly supported the proposed theoretical model. However, the impact of actual fit in values varied depending on the value dimension, revealing self-enhancement and self-transcendence values as the key dimensions. The implications of these findings for mentoring theory and practice, especially the matching process, are discussed.

Exploring the lived experiences of mutuality in diverse formal faculty mentoring partnerships through the lens of mentoring schemas

AbstractMentoring programs continue to be an important HRD tool as they provide faculty, regardless of career stage, an opportunity for professional learning and development. However, the traditional hierarchical mentor–mentee model may limit the quality and utility of these relationships. A solution provided by emerging literature is the relational mentoring perspective that calls for a mutual approach to mentoring. Nonetheless, mutual learning and growth in diverse mentoring might be difficult for underrepresented faculty mentees and their mentors. Our study offers a unique contribution to the mentoring literature by identifying how mentoring schemas may guide experiences of the factors that challenge and cultivate mutuality within diverse formal mentoring relationships. Findings indicated that difference in career stage and culture/power‐distance challenged the mentoring partners' ability to experience mutuality, especially if they had a traditional mentoring schema. Interestingly, they managed to overcome these challenges and experience mutuality in their mentoring partnerships if they were paired with a senior mentoring partner with a relational mentoring schema who was skilled to nurture mutual learning and growth. Also, similarity between mentoring partners in deep‐level diversity characteristics such as research interest, work styles, and approach to career building facilitated experiences of mutuality. Guided by the findings, we recommend that program designers solicit information on how cultural identities might have shaped mentoring schemas as part of the matching process and engage mentoring participants in a discussion about how these differences may influence the way mutuality is conceptualized and practiced early in the mentoring process.

An examination of formal mentoring relationships in librarianship

An examination of formal mentoring relationships in librarianship

The role of felt obligation to mentor in mentor performance

PurposeThe authors introduce a new measure of felt obligation to mentor in order to explore generalized reciprocity in mentoring. The purpose of this paper is to explore whether felt obligation to mentor adds prediction to mentor job performance in combination with mentoring functions provided and mentor-assessed benefits and costs of mentoring.Design/methodology/approachHypotheses were tested in a sample of firefighters in the Southwestern USA using moderated regression analysis.FindingsProtégé reported mentoring functions provided predicted mentor performance, but neither mentoring benefits nor costs predicted mentor performance. Felt obligation to mentor interacted with mentoring functions reported such that mentor performance was highest when both mentoring functions provided and felt obligation to mentor were high.Research limitations/implicationsThe results indicate that the new measure may prove to be of value for exploring generalized reciprocity in mentoring. Further, more research using mentoring benefits and costs is merited. Findings are limited by use of a new measure of felt obligation to mentor as well as the fact that the research was conducted in a setting in which employees were expected to serve as mentors.Practical implicationsOrganizations may leverage felt obligation to mentor in order to support effective informal or formal mentoring relationships, whereas focusing on the benefits of mentoring may be a less valuable strategy.Originality/valueThe research offers a new measure to help to understand generalized reciprocity as a motivation to mentor as well as suggesting that more empirical attention should be given to the perceived benefits and costs of mentoring.

What Do Startup Mentors Do? Founders’ Perspective on Entrepreneurial Mentoring Functions.

Although formal mentoring relationships become increasingly popular and are crucial to new venture performance, the composition and configurations of mentoring functions received by the founding teams are relatively unexplored. In this study, we introduce an inventory of mentoring roles that goes beyond their traditional understanding, and clarify their importance for the new venture founders. Building on fieldwork in 37 new venture teams seeking to establish formal mentoring relationships in an acceleration program, we uncover a function of new venture support that is prioritized by the founders over psychosocial support and role modelling. Surprisingly, we uncover that founders expect their mentors to assume the investor role in the long-term, therefore, we also discuss the implications of mentor-investor role duality for developing and sustaining formal mentoring relations. Overall, we add insights to the mentoring and entrepreneurship literatures on what team-level mentoring functions, especially in the context of uncertainty and complexity, shape subsequent entrepreneurial mentoring relations.

Influencing Intent to Stay: A Mentoring Program for Newly Hired Nurses

Mentoring programs have shown benefits in providing nurses with support, career coaching, professional development and retention. The nursing shortage, high acuity of our patient population, and the challenges faced in retaining nurses has prompted the development of a mentoring program within two community-based system hospitals. Mentoring has benefits for both the newly hired novice and experienced nurses as they transition to a new professional role, clinical practice area, nursing education environment, nursing leadership position or in the development of an evidence-based practice study or research study (Academy of Medical-Surgical Nursing [AMSN], 2012; Boyle & James, 1990; Cashin & Newman, 2010; Kohn, 2014; Bryant, et al., 2015). The mentoring dyad between the more experienced nurses (mentor) and the newly hired nurse (mentee) can provide a caring and nurturing relationship that can positively influence the mentee’s intent to stay. The formal mentoring relationship guides not only the new graduates, but those experienced nurses transitioning into the new healthcare organization. The primary focus of this pilot research study was to measure the intent to stay of newly hired nurses following the implementation of a formalized mentoring program. The study comprised of a small sample of newly hired nurses within two faith-based community hospitals. Although there was no statistical significance, the pilot research study builds a foundation for further research into the benefits of the mentoring relationship of newly hired nurses.

The relationship of advocacy and mentorship with female accountants' career success

Despite being the majority of new graduates for three decades, female accountants have not proportionately risen to the top of corporations or public accounting firms. Mentoring has been championed as an important variable in women's advancement, yet to date no research has examined how mentoring may be associated with improved career success measures such as organizational level and salary attained by female accountants. This study utilizes survey responses from almost 900 female accountants to assess the relationship between having a mentor and objective career outcomes, as well as beliefs about future promotions. We consider whether career success outcomes and beliefs about future promotions differ based upon mentor origin, mentor gender and mentor functions provided. Results indicate that having a mentor is associated with greater career advancement outcomes. Relationships that are characterized by stronger career development functions are associated with a higher perceived likelihood of promotion, and having a male mentor is associated with higher compensation and higher organizational level. Informal mentoring relationships are also associated with higher compensation and organizational level, supporting findings of previous research that suggests benefits of formal mentoring relationships are somewhat limited.

Effect of mentoring on professional values in model C clinical nurse leader graduates.

Nursing graduates acquire their nursing values by professional socialization. Mentoring is a crucial support mechanism for these novice nurses, yet little is known about the model C clinical nurse leader graduate and the effects of mentoring. This investigation examined how mentoring affected the development of professional nursing values in the model C clinical nurse leader graduate. A longitudinal design was used to survey model C clinical nurse leader graduates before and after graduation to determine how different types of mentoring relationships influenced professional values. Demographic surveys documented participant characteristics and the Nurses Professional Values Scale - Revised (NPVS-R) assessed professional nursing values. Mean NPVS-R scores increased after graduation for the formally mentored participants, while the NPVS-R scores decreased or remained unchanged for the other mentoring groups. However, no significant difference was found in NPVS-R scores over time (p=.092) or an interaction between the NPVS-R scores and type of mentoring relationships (p=.09). These results suggest that model C clinical nurse leader graduate participants experiencing formal mentoring may develop professional nursing values more than their colleagues. Formal mentoring relationships are powerful and should be used to promote professional values for model C clinical nurse leader graduates.

Mentoring Processes in Higher Education: Perspectives of Junior Athletic Training Faculty Members

Purpose: Mentorship is a valuable mechanism of socializing faculty members to higher education, but understanding of how mentoring relationships develop is limited. The purpose of this study was to seek a more complete understanding of how mentoring relationships develop for junior faculty members, and how these effective mentoring relationships can be fostered. Method: A qualitative, phenomenological design was used to examine junior athletic training faculty members’ experiences with mentoring. Twenty athletic training faculty members: 14 women, 6 men, 32±3 years of age and averaged 2.4±2.1 years as a full-time faculty member in an accredited athletic training program participated in this study. Participants completed one telephone interview, which was audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim. Data were analyzed with an inductive phenomenological approach. Data saturation was obtained Trustworthiness strategies included peer review and the use of multi-analyst triangulation. Results: Junior faculty participated in informal and formal mentoring relationships that evolved over time, which aided their transition from doctoral student to full-time faculty member. Additionally, mentoring relationships were strengthened when participants took initiative, engaged in the relationship, and set clear goals. Mentors who exhibit good communication skills, willingness to participate, and genuine interest in the mentee are particularly valuable. Conclusions: Both formal and informal mentoring experiences appear to be valuable for junior faculty members, particularly informal relationships. If institutional mentoring programs are lacking then junior faculty should seek out additional mentoring opportunities. These findings also confirm existing literature on effective mentoring characteristics.

Exploring the experiences of neophyte nurse mentors: A qualitative study.

Mentoring has become an increasingly popular supportive method for empowering nurses and assisting them to progress in their careers. Evidence from the literature demonstrates that not all experienced and highly qualified nurses are effective mentors. The aim of this study was to explore and describe the experiences of neophyte nurse mentors following their first formal mentoring relationship using a qualitative exploratory design. Data were collected using dual moderated focus group methods. The focus group was digitally recorded and transcribed verbatim. Interviews were analysed using thematic analysis. Six neophyte nurse mentors participated in the focus group. The themes identified included (1) Readiness for mentoring, (2) Venturing into the unknown, (3) Having the right fit (4) Frustrations of mentoring (5) Reciprocal professional relationship. The findings highlight how neophyte nurse mentors perceive mentoring and the importance of providing them with adequate preparation and support in order to efficiently transfer valuable knowledge and skills to their mentees.

Effective Characteristics of Formal Mentoring Relationships: The National Athletic Trainers' Association Foundation Research Mentor Program

Context:Mentoring is a beneficial mechanism to support junior faculty members as they navigate job expectations, institutional nuances, and the professional landscape during the first few years as a faculty member. Whereas effective characteristics of informal mentoring relationships are generally understood, less is known about factors that contribute to formal mentoring relationships.Objective:Gain mentor and mentee perceptions of effective mentoring in a formal setting.Design:Qualitative phenomenology.Setting:Higher education institutions.Patients or Other Participants:Six mentees (4 women and 2 men with 3 ± 4 years in their current faculty position) and 4 mentors (2 women and 2 men with an average of 10 ± 3 years in their current faculty position) participating in the 2015 National Athletic Trainers' Association Foundation mentor-program cohort.Main Outcome Measure(s):Participants completed one telephone interview before starting the mentor program and one interview upon program completion 11 months later. Participants also completed 3 structured online journals at 3-month increments throughout their participation in the program. Two researchers independently analyzed the interview and journal data using a phenomenological approach. To improve trustworthiness, we used peer review and pilot testing of the interview guides, member-checks, and multiple-analyst triangulation.Results:Participants described effective mentoring relationships as those that facilitated collaboration and demonstrated humanistic qualities. Participants who collaborated on scholarly activities during their mentoring experience perceived this to be a highly valuable aspect of the experience that increased the potential for a long-lasting relationship. Whereas the mentoring focused on professional development, humanistic attributes such as approachability and personal connections further enriched participants' mentoring experiences.Conclusions:Participants in formal mentoring experiences describe effective mentoring characteristics similarly to those who have participated in informal mentoring and should be encouraged to exhibit them. Additionally, coordinators of formal mentoring programs should provide participants with resources and guidance to facilitate their experiences.

Partnership for development: A peer mentorship model for PhD students.

Formal mentoring relationships socialize Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) students to their current and future roles as nursing scholars. Despite formal mentoring, some students may desire or benefit from additional mentoring in an informal setting. Informal mentoring complements the one-to-one relationship students develop with a primary faculty mentor or dissertation chair. This manuscript describes the development, implementation, and evaluation of a student-driven, peer mentorship model, titled Partnership for Development. This small group, peer mentorship model was implemented in a PhD program at a School of Nursing during an academic year. Five student peer facilitators organized a total of 32 PhD students, 2 post-doctoral associates, and invited 5 faculty to participate. Data includes pre- and post-implementation surveys completed by the students and peer facilitator field notes. Student reported post-participation benefits included: getting to know faculty in an informal setting (n=6), socializing with students from other cohorts (n=6), and obtaining a sense of camaraderie with other PhD students (n=5). We recommend peer mentorship for other PhD programs as a way to socialize PhD students into the role of nurse scientist and assist students during their tenure as a PhD student.

A Qualitative Study of Gender Issues Associated With Academic Mentoring in a Nigerian University.

There is an upsurge in the establishment of private and public universities in Nigeria. The development has opened up the need for quality and seasoned academics, but minimal opportunities exist for mentoring of young academics. This article explores the mentoring opportunities and challenges of young female academics faced in a male dominant university system. From an exploratory qualitative design, this article generates empirical evidence through structured a face-to-face interview with purposively selected 36 female academics. The participants were recruited from the Obafemi Awolowo University, a first-generation, public-owned university in Nigeria. A thematic analysis of the data revealed common challenges in mentoring female academics as inadequate and non-availability of older female role models for upcoming female academics. Other factors include fear of being stigmatized by other colleagues when a female has a male as an academic model, unfriendly gender policies, and work environment that will not cater for women’s needs (especially those in their reproductive age). Based on these findings, the article calls for more formal mentoring relationship for younger women academics. Such step will create a sense of purpose and provide requisite information that will enhance their career progression.

Facilitating employee socialization through mentoring relationships

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to advance understanding of the mentor factors that promotes mentoring outcomes. This was done by investigating the role of mentors’ learning goal orientation (LGO), their learning activity such as reflection, the perceived relationship quality in relation to the mentoring functions received by protégés, and the furtherance of their socialization in a formal mentoring relationship. Design/methodology/approach In total, 131 matched mentor-protégé dyads were recruited from three different organizations in Korea, for the final analysis. Structural equation modeling and Hayes's PROCESS macro were used to test the proposed model and the moderating effect of perceived relationship quality. Findings Results show that mentors’ LGO was positively related to their reflection. Additionally, mentors’ reflection was positively associated with mentoring functions received by protégés. Further, mentoring functions received by protégés were positively related to protégés’ socialization. In particular, mentors’ reflection mediates the relationship between mentors’ LGO and mentoring functions received by protégés. Moreover, perceived relationship quality moderates the relationship between mentors’ LGO and their reflection. Originality/value Even though mentoring research is well advanced, not many researches have yet investigated mentors’ LGO and their learning activity such as reflection, in relation to mentoring functions received by protégés and their socialization.

Mentoring and Informal Learning as Continuing Professional Education

This chapter examines the role of mentoring in continuing professional education from a critical perspective, addressing informal and formal mentoring relationships while highlighting their potential to encourage critical reflection, learning, and coconstruction of knowledge.