Examining career-related mentoring and managerial performance across cultures: A multilevel analysis

Authors

William A. Gentry, Center for Creative Leadership, Greensboro, NCFollow
Todd J. Weber, University of Nebraska at LincolnFollow
Golnaz Sadri, California State University, Fullerton

Date of this Version

2008

Comments

Published in Journal of Vocational Behavior 72 (2008), pp. 241–253; doi:10.1016/j.jvb.2007.10.014 Copyright © 2007 Elsevier Inc. Used by permission. http://www.elsevier.com/locate/jvb

Abstract

The benefits of the mentoring relationship for protégés have been a primary focus in the mentoring literature. Researchers have recently begun to examine how mentoring can benefit the mentor. The purpose of the present study is to examine whether direct report-ratings of a manager’s career-related mentoring behaviors are related to boss-ratings of that manager’s performance. In addition, this study assesses whether the cultural background of the manager moderates the career-related mentoring–performance relationship via multilevel methodology. Results reveal that managers who are rated by their direct reports as engaging in career-related mentoring behaviors are perceived as better performers by their bosses. Moreover, the GLOBE societal culture dimension of Performance Orientation was a significant cross-level moderator of the career-related mentoring–performance relationship. Implications for the practice of mentoring in cross-cultural contexts across multiple disciplines are discussed.