Why does formal mentoring matter? The mediating role of psychological safety and the moderating role of power distance orientation in the Chinese context

Abstract

Formal mentoring programs continue to gain popularity within various organizations due to their positive impact on protégés' career successes. However, to date, relevant research has focused on the benefits of informal mentoring relationships. To narrow the literature gap, this study was conducted to examine whether, how and when the amount of formal mentoring provided by mentors influenced protégés' work attitudes. Based on 208 formal mentor–protégé dyads from the People's Republic of China, we found that the amount of formal mentoring provided by mentors related positively to protégés' affective commitment and related negatively to turnover intention. Furthermore, perceived psychological safety of protégés partially mediated the relationship between the amount of formal mentoring and affective commitment, whereas it completely mediated the relationship between the amount of formal mentoring and turnover intention. Finally, protégés' power distance orientation moderated the relationship between the amount of formal mentoring and perceived psychological safety. Additionally, implications for research and practice from our findings are discussed.

Keywords::

• affective commitment
• formal mentoring
• power distance orientation
• psychological safety
• turnover intention

Acknowledgements

This research was supported by grants awarded to the authors from the Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC 70972016, 71102147). The authors would like to thank anonymous reviewers for The International Journal of Human Resource Management and the Consulting Editor for their many helpful comments and suggestions. The authors also thank Changya Hu who provided insightful comments on an earlier version of this work.