The effects of mentoring functions and proteges' attitudes towards knowledge-sharing on proteges' knowledge-sharing

Understanding the antecedents of knowledge-sharing is the key to successful knowledge management. Mentoring is becoming a critical avenue for people to share knowledge in organizations. This empirical study investigated the mentoring functions, knowledge-sharing relationship, and boundary conditions of the relationship. Data from 151 mentoring dyads suggested that career and psychosocial mentoring positively related to proteges sharing explicit and implicit knowledge. However, proteges' attitude toward knowledge-sharing moderated only the relationship between career mentoring and explicit knowledge-sharing. The findings contribute to the mentoring and knowledge management literature by suggesting that mentoring can facilitate successful knowledge management by promoting knowledge-sharing in organizations.