Benefits of mentoring African‐American men

Abstract

Purpose -The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between mentoring, job satisfaction and organizational commitment among African-American males. Design/methodology/approach -An online questionnaire was completed by 359 African-American males in a business setting. Findings -Job satisfaction and organizational commitment were higher for those who were being mentored versus those who were not. The multiple regression results suggested mentoring was a statistically significant predictor of job satisfaction and organizational commitment. Further, the relation between mentoring and organizational commitment was mediated by job satisfaction. Research limitations/implications -Current organizational research is limited, in that it tends to focus on majority culture where findings can be inappropriately generalized to minority groups. Future mentoring research should include more minorities that can provide a new window for interpreting the contributions of minorities to organizational competitiveness. Practical implications -Mentoring programs should be continued and/or expanded upon to reduce the likelihood of poor job satisfaction and organizational commitment for African-American males. Social implications -Organizations through their human resource efforts can contribute to the learning and development of African-American males and other minorities by designing and implementing quality mentoring programs. Such programs could lessen the likelihood of costly under-performance and turnover. Originality/value -This is one of the relatively few organizational studies designed specifically for a minority group. The results have implications for how human resource professionals and managers might improve mentoring experiences for minorities.

Mentoring leaders across race and gender lines: Insight from US Army officers

“…The lower rate of African American and female officer selections to the Army junior executive level may have contributed to an imbalance in diversity at senior Army officer levels (Vanden Brook, ). Such an imbalance at the senior level has also been identified in academic and corporate settings (Barker, ; Johnson & Eby, ; Robinson & Reio, ). Although numerous studies have examined why this phenomenon continues to occur (Leipold, ; Vanden Brook, ; Vega, Yglesias, & Murray, ; Waymer, ; Westphal & Stern, ; Zoroya, ), many questions remain concerning inadequate mentoring for African Americans and women, and the role that race and/or gender play in organizational advancement.…”

Do Mentoring Programs Make a Difference? A Qualitative Case Study on the Journey of Latino Students in a STEM Track

“…The literature indicates that mentorship could have positive psychological and career-development effects on a mentee's success and feelings of belonging to an organization (Robinson & Reio, 2012). However, there is limited peer-reviewed qualitative research related specifically to South Florida Latino STEM mentoring programs and their participants in an Associate degree program.…”

“…Largely, this could also depend on the personality of the two parties and on the fact that some students rely more on structure and on meeting special needs than other students. Regardless of the type of mentorship, the interaction between the mentor and the mentee continues to serve the purpose of career or psychological development (Robinson & Reio, 2012;Zalaquett & Lopez, 2006). What is important is that the mentee benefits from the mentor.…”

The Role of Attachment in Faculty Mentoring

“…Additionally, having a mediator send the surveys to the participants is known to fuel a higher response rate (Dillman, 2007). Similar approaches of using a mediator while employing the TDM have been used by Ghosh (2009), Robinson and Reio (2012), Trudel (2009), and Kauffman (2010. A summary of the protocol followed is provided in Table 1 below.…”

“…Taking a cue from the findings of the present study related to attachment, psychosocial support and the outcome variables, mentoring research focused specifically on ethnic minority groups that studied job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and intent to turnover (Robinson & Reio, 2012;Smith, Smith, & Markham, 2000) could be further extended.…”