An investigation of mentoring and socialization among law faculty

Abstract

This study examined mentoring and organizational socialization among law faculty at American Bar Association (ABA) approved law schools. Data obtained from respondents (n = 298) captured the types of mentoring (formal or informal) occurring in law schools and faculty perceptions of the effectiveness of each type of mentoring. Comparative analysis was used to examine mentoring as an antecedent of organizational socialization by comparing senior mentored faculty to senior non‐mentored faculty, junior formally mentored faculty to junior faculty with more informal types of mentoring, male to female faculty, and majority to non‐majority faculty. Results indicated that senior mentored faculty had higher mean scores than senior non‐mentored faculty on two of the six organizational socialization subscales. However, organizational socialization differences were not significant for other comparisons. The findings regarding mentoring are discussed within the context of diversity and suggestions for future research are provided.

Keywords:

• mentoring
• formal mentoring
• informal mentoring
• organizational socialization
• law faculty
• diversity