AN INVESTIGATION OF PERSONAL LEARNING IN MENTORING RELATIONSHIPS: CONTENT, ANTECEDENTS, AND CONSEQUENCES.

TLDR

To examine antecedents and consequences of learning in mentoring relationships, a new measure of personal learning, relational job learning, and personal skill development was developed. Personal learning was examined as a mediator between mentoring functions and organizational outcomes. The study found that having a mentor and engaging in mentoring functions predict personal learning, which in turn improves job satisfaction, reduces role ambiguity, lowers turnover intentions, and decreases actual turnover, with implications for future research and practice discussed.

Abstract

To examine antecedents and consequences of learning in the context of mentoring relationships, we developed a new measure of personal learning, relational job learning and personal skill development. The presence of a mentor and mentoring functions were found to be antecedents of personal learning. Job satisfaction, role ambiguity, intentions to leave a job (turnover intentions), and actual leaving (turnover) were found to be consequences of personal learning. This study also explored personal learning as a mediator between mentoring functions and organizational consequences. Implications for future research and practice are discussed.