Protégés’ Personality Traits, Expectations, the Quality of the Mentoring Relationship and Adjustment: A Big Five Analysis

The interplay between leaders’ personality traits and mentoring quality and their impact on mentees’ job satisfaction and job performance

This study focuses on examining the role of leaders’ Five-Factor Model (FFM) personality traits in their mentoring quality and mentees’ job satisfaction. It has also examined how leaders’ mentoring quality impacts mentees’ job satisfaction, leading to their job performance at the workplace. The study used an explanatory research methodology to determine the cause-and-effect relationship between mentors’ FFM personality characteristics, mentoring quality, and mentees’ job satisfaction and job performance. The study was based on path-goal theory and the Big Five-Factor Model of personality characteristics, and a questionnaire was utilized to collect information on the model’s constructs. Following the non-probability convenience sampling technique, the empirical data were collected from the academic and non-academic staff of public and private higher education institutions (HEIs) located within Pakistan on five-point Likert scale. The proposed hypotheses were tested by using PLS software. Four main conclusions were derived from this study. First, the leaders’ openness to new experiences, agreeableness, and emotional stability substantially influenced the mentees’ job satisfaction. Surprisingly, the leaders’ conscientiousness and extraversion qualities did not affect the job satisfaction of the mentees. Second, the findings demonstrated that the openness to experience, conscientiousness, and extroversion has a considerable influence on leaders’ mentoring quality, but agreeableness and emotional stability have a negligible impact. Third, the mentoring quality of the leader had a substantial effect on the job satisfaction and work performance of the mentees. Fourth, this study confirmed the belief that mentees’ job satisfaction has a favorable influence on their job performance within the context of Pakistan’s educational sector. The current study’s findings provided valuable insights to the educational institutions about which personality traits they need to foster in their leaders, making them an excellent leader to enhance their mentees’ job satisfaction and job performance within their organizational settings.

Mentor personality and attachment as correlates of youth mentoring relationship quality within a school-based mentoring intervention: The moderating role of negative interactions

AIMS

Mentor relationship quality is considered a mechanism linking youth mentoring to positive developmental outcomes. It is important to understand the factors that promote high-quality youth mentoring relationships. The current investigation examined whether certain mentor characteristics were associated with youth mentoring relationship quality.

METHOD

Children (n = 55) were participating in an efficacy trial of a lunchtime mentoring program for aggressive children. Children received two different mentors over the course of an academic year, resulting in 104 unique mentoring dyads. Analyses examined the unique and interactive influence of mentor personality, attachment style, and negative interactions within the mentoring relationship on mentoring relationship quality.

RESULTS

For both child- and mentor-reported relationship quality, negative interactions moderated the association between some dimensions of mentor personality and relationship quality.

CONCLUSION

Understanding the influence of mentor personality and attachment tendencies on mentoring relationships requires an appreciation for the context of the mentoring relationship and broader goals of the mentoring intervention.

Unpacking Community-Based Youth Mentoring Relationships: An Integrative Review

Formal community-based youth mentoring relationships (CBM) are a popular form of intervention worldwide in which caring, non-parental adult figures are matched with at-risk children (i.e., children who experience an intense and/or chronic risk factor, or a combination of risk factors in personal, environmental and/or relational domains that prevent them from pursuing and fulfilling their potential) to promote development and health. Common models suggest that a close mentoring relationship is needed for the success of the intervention. However, it remains unclear which key relational processes and variables promote relationship quality to generate the most significant benefits. Using the PRISMA framework, 123 articles were identified as relevant for this review which explores the state of the literature on CBM relationships describing the main findings regarding the characteristics of the relationship and the mediating and moderating variables. An essential ingredient that consistently emerged for generating mentoring outcomes is characterized by feelings of support, sensitivity, and trust and accompanied by a purposeful approach to shaping the goals of the relationship. A balanced approach comprised of recreational, emotional, and catalyzing aspects has been reported as essential for mentoring success. Mentors’ positive attitudes toward underprivileged youth, maturity in terms of age and experience are essential in forging positive relationships. Mentees who have better relational histories and more positive personality traits exhibited higher relationship quality. However, data imply the possibility of addressing mentees from moderate risk status. Preliminary evidence on thriving as a mediating variable was found. Program practices, such as training, parental involvement, and matching based on perceived similarities and similar interests, emerged as important factors. Generating many research suggestions, the review identifies research questions and uncharted territories that require inquiry.

Attachment Tendencies, Big 5 Personality Traits, and Self-Efficacy as Predictors of Mentors' Relationships with Aggressive Children

Youth mentoring is theorized as a relationship-based intervention in which a strong mentor-mentee bond functions as a mediator of positive outcomes. Given evidence for the importance of a positive relationship, the current study investigated whether differences in mentors' self-reported attachment tendencies (avoidance and ambivalence), Big Five personality traits, and self-efficacy predicted match quality after one academic semester. We also tested whether mentors' experience of conflict in the relationship moderated the relation between these characteristics and match quality. Participants were college student mentors (N = 190) paired with elementary school children identified via teacher and peer reports as highly aggressive. Separate regression analyses indicated that avoidance, openness, and self-efficacy significantly predicted mentor-rated (but not child-rated) match quality in expected directions. Moderator analyses revealed a mixed pattern of results: at low levels of conflict, ambivalence was a negative predictor of match quality, whereas extraversion and agreeableness were positive predictors. At high levels of conflict, openness and conscientiousness were positive predictors of match quality, whereas agreeableness was a negative predictor. The findings suggest it is important for mentoring programs to consider mentor characteristics when screening, training, and matching mentors, particularly in relationships with children identified as aggressive.