Predicting intent to turnover: Reciprocal learning in mentoring relationships, organizational citizenship behavior, and mediating mechanisms

Abstract

This dissertation is an exploratory study that expands the developmental scope of mentoring and makes pioneering contributions to the mentoring and turnover literature. It begins with an overview of the antecedents of turnover and proposes high-quality mentoring as a predictor of low voluntary employee turnover. The researcher uses Ragins's (2005) theory of relational mentoring to comprehend the cognitive processes behind the quality of mentoring relationships and the differences between mentors' and protégés' perceptions of high-quality mentoring relationships. Further, this study explores the effect of mentoring experiences among a unique group of individuals with multiple experiences as mentors and protégés in organizations.

Overall, the exhaustive data analyses conducted with a sample ( N = 594) of managerial and nonmanagerial employees from three U.S.-based organizations belonging to the American business and industry imply the following: (a) Mentoring experiences can have direct and indirect effects on intent to turnover and on altruistic OCB; (b) altruistic OCB mediates the relationship between mentoring participation and intent to turnover; (c) organization-based self-esteem and organizational commitment mediate the relationship between mentoring quality and protégé's altruistic OCB; (d) there are role-based (e.g., mentor, protégé) preferences for reciprocal learning in mentoring relationships; (e) relational mentoring measured by the extent of reciprocal learning in mentoring relationships predicts critical organizational outcomes including intent to turnover, especially among mentors; (f) quality of mentoring relationships can override the differences between formal and informal mentoring relationships; (g) informal protégés are more likely to volunteer as informal mentors, leading to an informal mentoring chain (IMC); and (h) formal protégés are equally likely to become both formal and informal mentors, leading to a dynamic perpetuation of both formal and informal mentoring in organizations. This study concludes with recommendations for human resource development (HRD) professionals to advocate an optimal mix of traditional mentoring (e.g., learning is dispensed hierarchically from the mentor to the protégé) and relational mentoring (e.g., learning may be dispensed reciprocally from either the mentor or protégé) in order to benefit mentors, protégés, and individuals with multiple mentoring experiences as mentors and protégés in organizations.