One size does not fit all: the role of mentoring context in proactive individuals' scholarly impact

Abstract

PurposeMentoring relationships have been proposed as a potential intervention to alleviate gender disparities in scholarly output. Yet, previous research has not provided a systematic understanding of the relationship between mentoring and scholarly output. The authors propose that individuals with a proactive personality are especially suited to leverage mentoring relationships to enhance scholarly outcomes. Structural features of mentoring relationships – gender composition, mentor supervisory status, and mentoring relationship length – provide cues that encourage the expression of proactive personality and result in higher scholarly impact.Design/methodology/approachData were collected via surveys from faculty members in a US university and were matched with objective scholarly impact data. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses were used for hypothesis testing.FindingsThe impact of proactive personality on scholarly impact was more positive for women protégés with women mentors than for all other mentor-protégé pairings. Results also showed support for two hypothesized three-way interactions with mentor status and mentoring relationship length.Originality/valueThis research provides insights into the contexts where mentorship makes the most difference in protégés' scholarly achievement. Gender composition of mentoring dyads and mentor status are important boundary conditions that impact the effect of proactive personality on scholarly output.