Mentoring is a valuable resource that enhances outcomes like career success. Applying conservation of resources theory, we examine the interaction effects of workers' management aspirations and lengthy career interruption(s) on the mentoring-career success relationship. Utilizing 259 older professional workers, we test these relationships with both cross-sectional and time-separated data. Although the pattern of results was similar when comparing the cross-sectional data to the time-separated data, we found that relationships were stronger within the cross-sectional data, resulting in the support of two additional hypotheses. With the time-separated data, we found evidence of a three-way interaction. Specifically, mentoring is more valuable for the perceived career success of workers with higher management aspirations who had not experienced a lengthy career interruption than it is for workers with higher management aspirations who had experienced a lengthy career interruption or for workers with lower management aspirations regardless of whether they had experienced a career interruption.

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to investigate how individual interviewers' dispositional cognitive motivations may influence interview interactions and outcomes. More specifically, this study explores the influence of the need for cognition, need for cognitive closure, and accountability on the relationship between first impressions and selection decisions. Design/methodology/approach - In total, 41 graduate students were assigned the role of interviewers and were tasked to interview 331 undergraduate students at a large Midwestern university. The selection interview was designed to recruit qualified undergraduate students to the MBA program of the university. Findings - First impressions significantly influenced selection decisions, but did not influence interviewers' behaviors. Moreover, multilevel analyses reveal that interviewers' need for cognition and accountability moderate the relationship between first impression and selection decisions, albeit in different direction. Need for cognition strengthens, whereas accountability weakens the relationship between first impression and selection decision. Research limitations/implications - A potential interviewer bias is apparent, where interviewers high on need for cognition tend to weight first impressions more in the decision process. However, this bias was not directly observable, since interviewers' behaviors during the interview were not affected by first impressions. Originality/value - The present study goes beyond previous research on first impressions in the employment interview, finding that dispositional differences account for the tendency to weigh first impressions in the selection decision.

Core self-evaluation (CSE) has been shown to be robust as a predictor of employees' salary attainment. Although the developmental network is suggested to have a positive impact on salary, do all high-CSE individuals benefit from their developmental networks similarly? We incorporate both personality research and developmental network research to explore this question in two studies. In Study 1, we investigated whether developmental network size moderates the positive CSE–salary relationship. In Study 2, we explored whether the organizational status and the strength of ties of one's developers moderate the positive CSE–salary relationship. Results indicated that high-CSE individuals with developmental networks characterized by fewer developers and by strong ties reported higher salaries than others. Overall, our findings demonstrate that the positive CSE–salary link may vary depending on the structural characteristics of the developmental network.

This paper empirically analyzes the interviewer-interviewee interaction during semi-structured employment interviews. It searches to identify the manner in which selection decisions are influenced by interviewers’ first impressions and factors that account for the relationships between first impressions and selection decisions. Data collected from interviews conducted in a major public Midwestern university are part of the selection information for the admission in a graduate program. The multi-level analysis of the data reveals that first impressions have a significant effect on selection decisions, but do not significantly influence interviewers’ behaviors during employment interviews. Data analysis also indicates that interviewers’ need for cognition and interviewers’ accountability moderate the relationship between first impression and selection decision, albeit in opposite directions. Our results indicate that need for cognition strengthens and accountability weakens the relationship between first impression and selection decision. The present study goes beyond previous research on confirmatory behavior and shows that dispositional differences can account for the tendency to weigh first impressions more in the selection decision. In conclusions of our analyses, we suggest that the interview structure may not necessarily eliminate a cognitive bias in the employment interview decision-making.

We report two studies examining the moderating effects of mentor status and protégé gender, along with the moderating role of occupational context, in the relationship of mentoring with protégé career outcomes. Our research replicates and extends previous findings, especially those by Ramaswami et al. (2010b). Results from Study 1 indicated that business school alumni with senior-male mentors earned more compensation than those with no mentors. Additionally, a 3-way interaction (protégé gender×senior-male mentor×occupation type) indicated that the senior-male mentor effect for compensation was especially prominent for females in male-gendered occupation types. Study 2, conducted in an aerospace manufacturing firm comprising both a male-gendered occupation and industry context, confirmed mentor-status by protégé gender interaction for compensation. Female protégés with senior mentors received more compensation than females with no mentors, and also more compensation than males with senior mentors. In contrast, protégés with “other” (not senior) mentors received less compensation than those with no mentors, with this negative effect being especially strong for females. Taken as a whole, these results confirm the importance of mentor status for protégé career success. The results also underscore the importance of considering both mentor attributes and work context in understanding male and female protégés' career returns from mentoring.

This paper develops and validates a scale for measuring perceptions of the fairness of mentoring within an organization. The construct of mentoring fairness as proposed in this paper distinguishes between perceived fairness in terms of access to mentoring and the treatment of protégés. Two studies were conducted to create and assess the scale for perceptions of mentoring fairness. The first study utilized an expert review. Based upon this expert review, a group of items were selected for a large sample pilot study which was conducted to validate the mentoring fairness scale. We conducted exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses to trim items and finalize the scale. We found that a three factor scale including access and two types of treatment--favoritism and abuse--provided the best fit to the data. In addition, the scale was assessed for its convergent, discriminant, and predictive validities by comparing the scale with established measures of procedural and distributive organizational justice, leader member exchange (LMX), organizational commitment, work withdrawal, and job satisfaction. This paper answers the calls in the literature to examine the fairness of mentoring with a more fine-grained approach than using organizational justice measures as a proxy.

This study of United States (US) and Hong Kong (HK) employees explores the linkages among networking behavior, instrumental and expressive resources received, career satisfaction, and work-to-family facilitation. Our results indicate that (1) three types of networking behavior were differentially linked to employees’ receipt of instrumental versus expressive network resources, with notable US-HK differences, (2) participation in professional activities was not useful for generating network resources in either society, and (3) receipt of instrumental network resources was related to career satisfaction and work-to-family facilitation in both the US and HK.

This paper examined perceptions of mentoring fairness from the perspectives of both protégés and non-protégés. We proposed a conceptualization of perceptions of mentoring fairness that distinguished between the key concepts of access to mentors and treatment by mentors. A sample of 302 professionals was surveyed at two points in time. The results indicate that one’s status as a protégé and the personality traits of locus of control and extraversion predicted perceptions of mentoring fairness in terms of access. Emotional stability predicted perceptions of fairness with regard to treatment of protégés in terms of both favoritism and abuse. Finally, perceptions of mentoring fairness in terms of both access and treatment predicted mentoring relationship quality.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES:Mentoring has been acknowledged as a critical factor in the development of family medicine academicians. Specific aims were to describe the research mentoring in family medicine from the experience of both mentors and protégés and identify characteristics that mentors and protégés associated with a successful mentoring relationship. The Grant Generating Project (GGP) Fellowship, a training and mentoring program for family medicine researchers, provided a natural opportunity to study these issues and better understand what is successful in research mentoring.METHODS:Separate mentor and protégés surveys measured perceptions about the extent of mentoring assistance, perceived relationship success, costs and benefits of the relationship, and the nature and duration of the relationship. Correlations between demographic characteristics and the mentoring relationship were also examined.RESULTS:Mentors were generally professors (78%), male (82%), with a mean age of 53 years, while protégés were assistant professors (53%) and almost evenly divided between male (51%) and female (49%) with mean age of 44 years. Both mentors and protégés describe the mentoring relationship in general to be of benefit to both mentor and protégé. Nonetheless, statistically significant differences between mentor-protégé responses were found for nine of the 20 survey items. Mentors tended to give higher values in their ratings of specific mentor-protégé relationship variables. Significant positive correlations were found between benefit, quality of the relationship, and mentoring assistance and the number of hours per month of mentor-protégé interaction, the number of mentor-protégé meetings per month, and the number of months the mentor worked with the protégé. Mentor-protégé acquaintance before the GGP fellowship was significantly correlated with cost, benefit, and mentoring assistance.CONCLUSIONS:This study shows agreement between mentor and protégé regarding the mentors' ability to promote the protégés, provide important technical skills, convey respect for the protégés, and serve as a friend and role model. Protégés tend to be more connected with their colleagues and with their profession, perhaps in part because the mentoring relationship facilitates networking opportunities provided by the mentor. In particular, excellent mentors can provide protégés with opportunities to meet other influential scholars at conferences and/or through various forms of correspondence. Such relationships can be helpful to the protégé in developing a constellation of mentoring relationships that may result in more successful research careers. Future studies should examine the relationship upon various outcomes.

The authors’ review of the mentoring literature describes how the construct has changed since Kram’s influential work in the early 1980s, the implications of such changes for the field, and suggestions for the future. In addition to highlighting changes over time in the topics mentoring researchers have studied, the authors provide an in-depth review of the way researchers have defined mentoring and the implications of those definitions. They identified approximately 40 different definitions used in the empirical literature since 1980. The discussion of definitions is followed by a delineation of the core attributes of all mentoring relationships and recommendations for specific information that researchers should collect about the relationship. The authors conclude by describing research trends and directions for future mentoring research.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to integrate scholarship on personality, mentoring, developmental relationships, and social networks in delineating how employees with particular personality characteristics are more or less likely to be involved in four types of developmental networks.Design/methodology/approachThe paper reviews scholarship on personality characteristics and developmental relationships to identify a set of distinct personality characteristics proposed to be related to employees' tendencies to develop four types of developmental networks. These network types are defined based on high or low relationship strength and high or low relationship diversity in employee ties with others. We develop propositions delineating the nature of expected relationships of these personality characteristics with developmental network types.FindingsThe paper identifies five personality characteristics – interdependent/independent self‐construal, core self‐evaluations, openness to experience, conscientiousness, and extroversion/introversions – and explained how each should be related to employees' tendencies to develop the four types of developmental networks. These networks have been described as opportunistic, entrepreneurial, receptive, and traditional developmental networks, based upon the strength and the diversity of network relationships.Originality/valueThe paper suggests that personality variables are potentially valuable for understanding how individuals develop particular types of developmental relationships, an area that deserves more research attention. It is noted that developmental relationships have been shown to be related to both employees' objective career outcomes such as promotions and salary progress, and subjective outcomes such as career and job satisfaction.

This study extends prior research and also makes a unique contribution to our understanding of web-based recruitment. The study measured perceptions of potential job applicants who evaluated four actual corporate recruitment web sites. Perceptions of web site information, including information specificity, navigability/usability, and web site orientation were hypothesized to be related to outcomes including perceived person-organization (P-O) fit, perceptions of the firm’s culture, and attraction to the organization. The study also examined three individual difference variables—self-efficacy, computer self-efficacy, and motivation to reduce uncertainty (MRU)—as related to major predictor and outcome variables. Additional variables and their associated relationships with outcomes included organizational familiarity and industry desirability. A total of 731 (primarily) junior and senior-level business students from two large universities participated in the study, responding to a web-based survey. Results indicated that job seekers who perceived a higher level of information specificity on the organization’s web site and a higher level navigability/usability perceived higher levels of perceived P-O fit. In addition, findings indicate that two of the three individual difference variables, self-efficacy and computer self-efficacy, were significantly related to the job seeker’s perception of P-O fit. Also, for one organization, computer self-efficacy moderated the relationship between web site characteristics and perception of the organization. Motivation to reduce uncertainty was not related to P-O fit perceptions. However, for one organization MRU moderated the relationship between web site characteristics and perception of the organization for one organization. Further analysis of the data supported prior research with findings in that P-O fit perceptions were related to attraction to the organization, and familiarity was positively related to P-O fit perceptions. In addition, industry desirability was positively related to attraction to the organization. This study underscores the importance of particular web site characteristics for organizations’ efforts to generate positive perceptions in job seekers and to enhance job seekers’ attraction to the organization.

Job search is thought to be highly relevant to, or dependent on, one's social network. This paper specifies the process by which job seekers compare their job search performance with members of their social network, which impacts their self perceptions (i.e., job search self-efficacy and self-esteem), positive affect, and ultimately influences their job search success. We propose a model to provide insights into the role of a job-seeker's social network in providing comparison information for assessing his or her job search performance. This comparative information is linked to perceptions and feelings that are critical for one's job search success. Our model integrates social network theory with current research on social comparison processes. We highlight the importance of the quality of information from one's social network for job seekers when other comparative information is not readily available. The model also proposes that personal goals, (i.e., self-enhancement, self-improvement, and self-evaluation) affect job seekers' choice of subsequent comparison targets. This paper has implications for both theory and practice related to the role of social networks in successful job search.

Job search is thought to be highly relevant to, or dependent on, one's social network. This paper specifies the process by which job seekers compare their job search performance with members of their social network, which impacts their self perceptions (i.e., job search self-efficacy and self-esteem), positive affect, and ultimately influences their job search success. We propose a model to provide insights into the role of a job-seeker's social network in providing comparison information for assessing his or her job search performance. This comparative information is linked to perceptions and feelings that are critical for one's job search success. Our model integrates social network theory with current research on social comparison processes. We highlight the importance of the quality of information from one's social network for job seekers when other comparative information is not readily available. The model also proposes that personal goals, (i.e., self-enhancement, self-improvement, and self-evaluat...

Engaging in networking behaviors, by attempting to develop and maintain relationships with others who have the potential to provide work or career assistance, is considered to be an important career management strategy. This study explores the relationship between networking behavior and career outcomes (i.e., number of promotions, total compensation, perceived career success) in a sample of managerial and professional employees. Furthermore, we investigate whether networking behavior is as beneficial for women as it is for men. Results indicated that some types of networking behavior were related to both objective and perceived career outcomes. In addition, gender differences do impact the utility of networking behavior as a career-enhancing strategy. Explanations of our results and implications for engaging in networking behavior are discussed. Copyright (C) 2004 John Wiley Sons, Ltd.

Strategic compensation theory argues that rewards should be used to encourage employee activities that support organizational goals, but reward strategies often have confounding effects on employee attitudes and behaviors. Five reward strategies that might be followed—Individual Output, Group Output, Human Capital, Position and Market—were identified, and 154 employees from 10 companies were asked to indicate which were followed in their organizations. When reward strategies were compared with employee attitudes, some striking differences in responses between blue-collar and white-collar workers were revealed. The article concludes that compensation programs need to take into account alternative employee reactions among different classes of employees.