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Does Mentoring Matter? A Multidisciplinary Meta-Analysis Comparing Mentored and Non-Mentored Individuals
Lillian T Eby1, Tammy D Allen, Sarah C Evans
1University of Georgia.
Journal of Vocational Behavior
|April 4, 2009
Summary
Mentoring benefits protégés across various domains, with academic and workplace mentoring showing larger effects than youth mentoring. This quantitative review synthesizes findings from diverse mentoring research areas.
Area of Science:
- Social Sciences
- Psychology
- Education
- Organizational Behavior
Background:
- Mentoring research traditionally occurs in isolated disciplinary silos.
- Focus has often been on specific types of mentoring relationships.
- A comprehensive quantitative review across major mentoring domains is lacking.
Purpose of the Study:
- To quantitatively review mentoring research in youth, academic, and workplace settings.
- To determine the overall effect size of mentoring on protégé outcomes.
- To explore variations in mentoring's impact based on relationship type.
Main Methods:
- Quantitative meta-analysis of existing mentoring studies.
- Inclusion of research from youth, academic, and workplace mentoring contexts.
- Analysis of effect sizes for diverse protégé outcomes.
Main Results:
- Mentoring is linked to numerous positive outcomes (behavioral, attitudinal, health, relational, motivational, career).
- The overall effect size for mentoring is generally small.
- Academic and workplace mentoring demonstrated larger effect sizes compared to youth mentoring.
Conclusions:
- Mentoring provides broad benefits for protégés across different contexts.
- The type of mentoring relationship influences the magnitude of its effects.
- Findings inform future research, theory development, and practical applications in mentoring.
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