Mentoring Behaviors Research Articles

Transforming mentorship in STEM by training scientists to be better leaders.

Effective mentoring is a key component of academic and career success that contributes to overall measures of productivity. Mentoring relationships also play an important role in mental health and in recruiting and retaining students from groups underrepresented in STEM fields. Despite these clear and measurable benefits, faculty generally do not receive mentorship training, and feedback mechanisms and assessment to improve mentoring in academia are limited. Ineffective mentoring can negatively impact students, faculty, departments, and institutions via decreased productivity, increased stress, and the loss of valuable research products and talented personnel. Thus, there are clear incentives to invest in and implement formal training to improve mentorship in STEM fields. Here, we outline the unique challenges of mentoring in academia and present results from a survey of STEM scientists that support both the need and desire for more formal mentorship training. Using survey results and the primary literature, we identify common behaviors of effective mentors and outline a set of mentorship best practices. We argue that these best practices, as well as the key qualities of flexibility, communication, and trust, are skills that can be taught to prospective and current faculty. We present a model and resources for mentorship training based on our research, which we successfully implemented at the University of Colorado, Boulder, with graduate students and postdocs. We conclude that such training is an important and cost‐effective step toward improving mentorship in STEM fields.

Validation of Mentors' Behavior Scale among mentors

BackgroundThe Mentors' Behavior Scale was developed and validated initially among nursing students by assessing the importance of mentors' behavior, showing satisfactory psychometrics and the potential to match mentors with students according to students' expectation. ObjectivesThis study aims to test the discriminant validity and the structure of the Mentor's Behavior Scale among mentors to assess mentors' performance. DesignA cross-sectional survey was applied in the study. SettingData were collected from mentors in seven hospitals in north, south, southwest China in 2016 and 2017. Participant871 mentors participated in this study. MethodsPurposeful sampling and online survey was used. ResultsThree factors (to guide personal growth, promote professional development, and provide psychosocial support) were identified by exploratory factor analysis. The cumulative contribution of variance was 61.03%. The Cronbach's alpha coefficient of the scale was 0.85, and those of the three subscale's were 0.84, 0.72, and 0.74. The results of discriminant validity showed that mentors who received training and who liked mentoring students scored higher in mentoring behavior. ConclusionMentors considered that mentoring behavior were to guide students' personal growth, promote professional development and provide them with psychosocial support. It will be useful to apply The Mentors' Behavior Scale among mentors to guide and evaluate their behaviors.

Enacting Effective Mentoring Behaviors: Development and Initial Investigation of the Cuboid of Mentoring

Our understanding of how to maximize the benefits of mentoring relationships for employee development has been limited by a vague understanding of what effective mentors are actually doing and how they are doing it. To begin to remedy this, we conducted one qualitative interview study of well-respected mentors to uncover the breadth and detail of their behaviors, and one quantitative study to see how a subset of these behaviors would be endorsed under two moderating conditions. Our qualitative study consisted of 28 interviews followed by detailed coding and analysis, and yielded a new framework of mentoring behaviors we named the cuboid of mentoring. This framework provides a rich set of behavioral statements that could be mined for research and practice purposes. Our quantitative investigation used a policy-capturing approach to investigate the extent to which experienced mentors endorsed mentoring objectives and behaviors under different conditions. This study showed that mentoring actions are purposeful, and the methodology demonstrates a paradigm for further study of boundary conditions of mentoring behaviors and supports conclusions from the qualitative study regarding how mentors think about the objectives and behaviors of mentoring.

Leveraging Subordinates for Performance

Using multisource data from 37 countries encompassing a sample of 9,039 managers and their subordinates, we find that managers who provide more career mentoring receive higher performance ratings. This relationship holds true in all cultures but is more salient in more assertive than less assertive cultures. Conversely, managers who provide psychosocial mentoring receive higher performance ratings only in more assertive cultures. By understanding how the two types of mentoring behaviors affect managers’ performance across cultures with different levels of assertiveness, this study provides insight into how managers (especially expatriates and managers of cross-cultural teams) can adapt their mentoring behaviors across cultures.

Faculty Engagement in Cultural Mentoring as Instructors of Short-Term and Semester Study Abroad Programs

The purpose of this study was to explore what cultural mentoring looks like in practice in short-term study abroad courses, how frequently instructors engage in cultural mentoring, and what demographic and background variables might predict the extent to which faculty members engage in cultural mentoring. Using data from a survey of 473 faculty members from 72 U.S. colleges and universities who had recently taught short-term study abroad courses, we identified four types of cultural mentoring behaviors – Expectation Setting, Explaining the Host Culture, Exploring Self in Culture, and Facilitating Connections. We also identified key predictors of the frequency with which participants engaged in cultural mentoring, including rank, race/ethnicity, and discipline.

Paying it forward? The mixed effects of organizational inducements on executive mentoring

How might organizational inducements influence the mentoring behavior of senior executives? In a multisource study of senior executives (n = 239) and their direct reports (n = 1,098), the researchers found mixed results—relational inducements (e.g., investments in career development) were positively associated with mentoring whereas transactional inducements (e.g., compensation) were negatively associated. Results are explained from signaling and self‐determination theory wherein inducements communicate organizational priorities that either uphold or undermine mentoring behavior. While prior research has examined the benefits of inducements on job performance, this study reveals that inducements can have differential and unintended consequence on prosocial and relational behavior such as mentoring. It is the first study to examine the unintended and differential consequence of inducements on mentoring behavior. In addition, the findings challenge assumptions about the trickle‐down benefits of organizational rewards and suggest that the consequences of human capital investments extend far beyond the focal leader.

Transformational mentoring: Leadership behaviors of spinal cord injury peer mentors.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the leadership behaviors of spinal cord injury (SCI) peer mentors and examine whether behaviors of peer mentors align with the tenets of transformational leadership theory. A total of 12 SCI peer mentors aged 28-75 (M = 49.4) who had between 3 and 56 years (M = 13.9) of mentoring experience were recruited for the study. Utilizing a qualitative methodology (informed by a social constructionist approach), each mentor engaged in a semistructured interview about their experiences as a peer mentor. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and subjected to a directed content analysis. SCI peer mentors reported using mentorship behaviors and engaging with mentees in a manner that closely aligns with the core components of transformational leadership theory: idealized influence, inspirational motivation, individualized consideration, and intellectual stimulation. A new subcomponent of inspirational motivation described as 'active promotion of achievement' was also identified and may be unique to the context of peer mentorship. SCI peer mentors inherently use behaviors associated with transformational leadership theory when interacting with mentees. The results from this study have the potential to inform SCI peer mentor training programs about specific leadership behaviors that mentors could be taught to use and could lead to more effective mentoring practices for people with SCI. (PsycINFO Database Record

Building trust: The influence of mentoring behaviors on perceptions of health care managers' trustworthiness.

In health care organizations, trust is critical for effective workplace relationships that ensure patient-centered outcomes. Although research has focused on trust in the relationship between patients and clinicians, less is known about what influences workers to trust their managers. An understanding is needed of the specific behaviors that influence health care workers' evaluations of their managers' trustworthiness. Mentoring research focuses on the developmental assistance that a more experienced worker provides to a less experienced worker. Building upon seminal research on mentoring functions, we argue that health care managers can build trust by providing informational (career-related) and interpersonal (psychosocial) support. The aim of the study was to investigate the influence of health care managers' informational and interpersonal mentoring behaviors on workers' perceptions of their managers' trustworthiness and the mediating role of trustworthiness on trust in the managers. Surveys were completed during work hours by 315 health care workers at an acute care hospital and associated clinics in the Midwest. Results showed that managers' mentoring behaviors influenced worker perceptions of their managers' trustworthiness, in terms of ability, integrity, and benevolence. Ability partially mediated the relationship between informational mentoring and trust in managers, whereas integrity and benevolence partially mediated the relationship between interpersonal mentoring and trust in managers. Health care managers can actively build trust through mentoring behaviors that inspire positive assessments of managers' ability, integrity, and benevolence.

Supplemental Material for Transformational Mentoring: Leadership Behaviors of Spinal Cord Injury Peer Mentors

Supplemental Material for Transformational Mentoring: Leadership Behaviors of Spinal Cord Injury Peer Mentors

Strategic Talk in Film

ABSTRACTConversational robots and agents are being designed for educational and/or persuasive tasks, e.g., health or fitness coaching. To pursue such tasks over a long time, they will need a complex model of the strategic goal, a variety of strategies to implement it in interaction, and the capability of strategic talk. Strategic talk is incipient ongoing conversation in which at least one participant has the objective of changing the other participant’s attitudes or goals. The paper is based on the observation that strategic talk can stretch over considerable periods of time and a number of conversational segments. Film dialogues are taken as a source to develop a model of the strategic talk of mentor characters. A corpus of film mentor utterances is annotated on the basis of the model, and the data are interpreted to arrive at insights into mentor behavior, especially into the realization and sequencing of strategies.

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

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.

How do mentoring rewards influence experienced auditors?

The benefits of mentoring are well documented, and include lower employee turnover, heightened employee success, and higher employee satisfaction. In an effort to acquire these benefits, audit firms are structuring rewards for mentoring. However, we predict that rewarding mentors can prove problematic, leaving needy young auditors without a mentor or perhaps receiving advice that might prove detrimental. We test our expectations in an experiment with 111 Big 4 auditor participants. As expected, we find that in the presence of mentoring rewards, experienced auditors are less willing to mentor the young auditors who likely would benefit the most. We also find that in the presence of mentoring rewards, experienced auditors are more likely to provide advice that might be counterproductive. Yet interestingly, in our study, when rewards are absent, experienced auditors are more willing to mentor and more likely to provide beneficial advice. Our results inform the audit mentoring literature though our focus on mentor behavior, as opposed to protégé behavior. Our results also have implications for audit firms as they consider the structure of mentoring rewards, training on mentoring advice, and the effects of this advice.

Psychometric properties of the mentor behaviour scale in a sample of Malaysian medical students.

ObjectivesTo determine the psychometric properties of the Mentor Behaviour Scale (MBS), a 15-item inventory that evaluates four supportive mentor behaviours in terms of construct validity and internal consistency.MethodA cross-sectional study was carried out on a sample of medical students in their final year at Universiti Sains Malaysia. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was performed using AMOS 22 to assess construct validity. Reliability analysis was performed using SPSS 22 to assess internal consistency.ResultsA total of 159 final year medical students participated. CFA showed that the original four-factor model with 15 items achieved acceptable values for the goodness of fit indices, suggesting a good model fit (X2 = 198.295, ChiSq/df = 2.418, RMSEA = 0.095, GFI = 0.867, CFI = 0.953, NFI = 0.923, TLI = 0.940). The Cronbach's alpha values of the mentoring relationship structure, engagement, and competency support domains were 0.96, 0.90 and 0.88, respectively. For autonomy support, the Cronbach's alpha value was 0.62.ConclusionMBS demonstrates a satisfactory level of construct validity and a high level of internal consistency in measuring supportive mentor behaviours in a medical school setting. This result suggests that MBS can be used as a mentorship evaluation tool for feedback in the context of a Malaysian medical school.

Exploring Mentees' Perceptions of an Undergraduate Nurse Peer Mentorship Program.

A nurse peer mentorship program was implemented to address the needs of undergraduate nursing students at an academic institution. The purpose of this study was to explore the perceptions of mentees who participated in the nurse peer mentorship program. A qualitative descriptive study was conducted. Data were collected using semistructured interviews that were transcribed verbatim and descriptively analyzed using an inductive approach. Eleven participants were interviewed. Participant narratives revealed themes related to the student experience as they transitioned to university and their unique needs that motivated them to join the program. Mentees described helpful mentor behaviors and provided insight into the academic, social, professional, and mental health benefits and personal growth experienced from peer mentorship. Participants shared factors that affected mentoring relationships. Study findings support the need for broad evaluations of peer mentorship programs and can inform educational leaders to improve mentorship support available for nursing students. [J Nurs Educ. 2017;56(4):227-230.].

Mentors’ behavioral profiles and college adjustment in young adults participating in an academic mentoring program

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore associations between different mentor behavioral profiles and mentees’ perceptions of the quality of mentoring relationship, the usefulness of the mentoring, and their college adjustment during the first year of college.Design/methodology/approachThe study used a quasi-experimental design and involved the participation of 253 student mentees and 246 students from a control group. Cluster analysis on the responses of mentees on the mentor behavior scale was used to identify behavioral profiles of academic mentors.FindingsFour distinct behavioral profiles were identified: optimal (high scores on mentor structure, involvement, autonomy support, and competence support); sufficient (moderate on all scales); controlling (low on autonomy support but high on other scales); and inadequate (low on all scales). Compared to mentees exposed to sufficient and inadequate profiles, mentees exposed to the optimal profile perceived the mentoring relationship and its usefulness as more positive. Furthermore, they reported better social adjustment in college compared to a control group, whereas mentees exposed to the inadequate profile reported poorer adjustment. Interestingly, mentees exposed to the controlling profile found the mentoring relationship useful.Research limitations/implicationsThis study provides new empirical bases for the behavioral profiles of mentors that best meet mentees’ academic adjustment challenges. Limitations of the study include the absence of the mentors’ perceptions in the creation of behavioral profiles and the fact that the profiles were analyzed based on a single program.Originality/valueBehavioral profiles of academic mentors were examined through the lens of a strong theoretical model that emphasizes the important role of structure, involvement, autonomy support, and competence support in the academic adjustment of mentees.

Multicultural Mentorship Education: A Critical Tool for National Unity and Integration in Nigeria

The learner population is constantly changing, so, educators deal with learners from a wide cross-section of cultural backgrounds. Consequently, there is need to focus on help-seeking behaviors and help-providing behaviors of mentors based on race, social class and ethnicity. There is always the concern that most schools may not be adjusting rapidly enough to the fact that learners from different cultures may need an alternative style of teaching and learning in order to realize their optimal potential in the global 21st century classroom. In realizing this view of social and cultural differences in the behavior of the minority students, as a matter of need, an appropriate education of citizens through multicultural mentorship education is being advocated. As traditionally defined, mentoring is a one-to-one relationship between an experienced and a less experience person over a period of time. Mentors empower students' success by being role models and guide as a result of challenges which come from a variety of sources. Therefore, this paper investigated multicultural mentorship education as a critical tool for national unity and integration. One research question was raised and a null hypothesis was generated and tested at 0.05 level of significance. The study adopted a quasi experimental design. Participants were one hundred and fifty junior secondary III students purposively selected from three secondary schools in Ogun State, South-West region of Nigeria. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics of frequency count, percentage, mean and standard deviation. Inferential statistics of Pearson product moment correlation was used to test the hypothesis. The findings of this study revealed that effective refocusing of traditional or conventional teaching method with a view of complimenting it with multicultural mentorship educational strategy would enhance service delivery plus national unity and integration.

The effects work engagement and generativity on post-retirement preparation

The post-retirement preparation of middle & young-old aged workers before their complete labor force withdrawal have received more attention in countries where aging society is progressing rapidly. Given that organizations and society may not be able to provide a full support for the later life of middle & young-old aged workers, self-directed preparation of individual workers is a key factor for the successful retirement. The purpose of this study was to examine a mediating role of mentoring between generativity and post-retirement preparation based on the theory of adult development of Erikson associated with generativity. The effect of mentoring may also be influenced by work-related factor for the old-aged workers. Thus, this study simultaneously tested the effect of work engagement as another predictor of mentoring and post-retirement preparation. Given the expected roles of the generation in this age are quite different by gender, the gender difference in the pattern of relationships among the variables was also hypothesized. Conducting a survey research to 320 employed middle and young-old aged worker, the data was analyzed by multi-group analysis using Structured Equation Modeling. The results of this study found the positive effects of generativity and work engagement on post-retirement preparation through mentoring behavior. Gender difference was also found in some paths of the research model. Suggestions for future research and practical implications were provided based on the findings.

The Effects Work Engagement and Generativity on Post-retirement Preparation: The Indirect Effects of Mentoring & The Gender Difference

The post-retirement preparation of middle & young-old aged workers before their complete labor force withdrawal have received more attention in countries where aging society is progressing rapidly. Given that organizations and society may not be able to provide a full support for the later life of middle & young-old aged workers, self-directed preparation of individual workers is a key factor for the successful retirement. The purpose of this study was to examine a mediating role of mentoring between generativity and post-retirement preparation based on the theory of adult development of Erikson associated with generativity. The effect of mentoring may also be influenced by work-related factor for the old-aged workers. Thus, this study simultaneously tested the effect of work engagement as another predictor of mentoring and post-retirement preparation. Given the expected roles of the generation in this age are quite different by gender, the gender difference in the pattern of relationships among the variables was also hypothesized. Conducting a survey research to 320 employed middle and young-old aged worker, the data was analyzed by multi-group analysis using Structured Equation Modeling. The results of this study found the positive effects of generativity and work engagement on post-retirement preparation through mentoring behavior. Gender difference was also found in some paths of the research model. Suggestions for future research and practical implications were provided based on the findings.

Evaluating an Accountability Mentoring Approach for School Counselors

School counselors are encouraged to use accountability in order to advocate for their programs and students, but many school counselors lack confidence to work with data. This project examined the effectiveness of an individualized mentoring intervention targeting data attitudes, self-efficacy, and behaviors. After participating in the intervention, four school counselors experienced more positive attitudes about accountability as well as increased self-efficacy and plans to engage in accountability activities. This article discusses implications for professional development.

STEM mentoring and the use of the principles of Adult Mentoring Inventory

Purpose– The purpose of this convergent parallel mixed methods paper is to explore the mentoring experience within the context of a science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) specific mentoring program for urban, at risk, high school youth, using the Principles of Adult Mentoring Inventory (PAMI) as an instrument that modeled effective mentoring behavior. The study took place at a large, urban, Midwestern university in the USA.Design/methodology/approach– A research design was developed and both quantitative and qualitative data were collected in parallel, analyzed separately and then merged to determine results. The PAMI instrument that measures six constructs of mentor effectiveness was administered to STEM mentors as a pre/post-test and enabled researchers to collect quantitative data. Researchers used focus groups to collect qualitative data in the form of transcribed interviews. This study sought to inform STEM mentoring program development by collecting both qualitative and quantitative data independently and simultaneously in order to confirm findings. Researchers used a convergent parallel mixed methods design to first, reinforce and corroborate the findings given the small sample size (n=8); second, minimize alternative interpretations from data gathering and analysis, third, make clear various factors contributing to the effectiveness of STEM mentoring.Findings– Throughout the mentoring experience, mentor perceptions of their mentoring abilities increased to be in the “more highly effective” range within PAMI. In five of the six constructs the results indicated mentors scored lower on the pre-test than they did on the post-test of the PAMI, meaning mentor perceptions of mentoring abilities improved overall during the course and the mentoring experience. Common themes from both quantitative and qualitative results were developed, are discussed using the PAMI constructs as organizers, and include communication, information, and gender differences.Originality/value– This study added to the dearth of literature and investigations surrounding STEM mentoring. Many studies have concentrated primarily on mentoring but few have investigated the concept of STEM mentoring program best practices. The results of this study provided a multidimensional look at STEM mentoring programs that impact urban, at risk, high school youth.