An investigation of the moderating effects of gender on the relationships between mentorship initiation and protege perceptions of mentoring functions

Recent research has suggested that the more the mentor is involved in relationship initiation the greater the benefits that the protege may receive. No research, however, has examined the impact of protege gender on the relationship between initiation and mentoring received. The results of this study indicate that male proteges perceived more mentoring than female proteges in protege-initiated mentorships. Female proteges, however, reported receiving more mentoring than male proteges if the relationship was mentor-initiated or where both mentor and protege initiated the relationship. Proteges in informal mentorships reported receiving more mentoring than those in formal organizational programs. The findings of this study also indicate that proteges may benefit more from same-sex relationships than cross-sex relationships with respect to role modeling. (C) 2001 Academic Press.