What’s in a Name? A Literature-Based Approach to Understanding Mentoring, Coaching, and Other Constructs That Describe Developmental Interactions

TLDR

Employee development encompasses diverse forms such as coaching, mentoring, apprenticeship, and action learning, yet the literature lacks consensus on what these constructs represent. This study aimed to clarify developmental interaction constructs by synthesizing existing descriptions rather than imposing new definitions. Using a qualitative literature‑based method, the authors extracted 227 construct descriptions from 182 sources, analyzed their characteristics, and built a nomological network of 13 common developmental interaction constructs. The resulting model clarifies the current state of the literature, highlights gaps, and guides future research on developmental interaction constructs.

Abstract

Employee development can take a variety of forms including “developmental interactions” such as coaching, mentoring, apprenticeship, and action learning. The broad literature on approaches to development lacks agreement on what these constructs represent. Rather than impose new construct definitions on the field, the current research addressed the need for construct clarification using existing descriptions of common developmental interactions to create a snapshot of the developmental interaction literature. A qualitative, literature-based approach developed a nomological network of 13 common developmental interaction constructs. A total of 227 construct descriptions were extracted from 182 sources. These were systematically analyzed for the characteristics that help explain construct meanings. A model (i.e., nomological network) was developed to summarize the current understanding of developmental interaction constructs. Analysis of this model provides better understanding of the current state of the literature, identifies gaps in the literature, and informs and directs future research on developmental interaction constructs.