Mentoring received by protégés: Its relation to personality and mental ability in the Anglo-Saxon organizational environment

Abstract

Dispositional characteristics, including personality and mental ability, play a substantial role in interpersonal relationships. However, their connection with mentoring, which is a form of interpersonal relationship, has received limited attention. The study empirically investigated the association of mentoring received with the Big-Five of personality and general mental ability in the Anglo-Saxon organizational environment. Furthermore, it integrated the relationship between dispositional traits, mentoring received and career success in a causal path model. Analysis of data collected from 272 white-collar workers suggested no relationships of logarithmic form between mentoring received and personality traits or general mental ability. Hierarchical linear regression indicated that scores on openness and agreeableness made significant contributions to scores on mentoring received over and above the contributions of the demographics and human capital controls. Causal path modelling suggested that the total effects of openness and agreeableness on extrinsic career success were negative while the corresponding effects on intrinsic career success were positive; largely due to the fact that the benefits of mentoring received were stronger for intrinsic than for extrinsic career success. The results were discussed with respect to their contribution to our understanding of the development of mentoring relationships, and their implications for practice and research across national cultural contexts.