E-mentoring for social equity: review of research to inform program development

The advent of user-friendly email programs and web browsers created possibilities for widespread use of e-mentoring programs. In this review of the research, we presented the history of e-mentoring programs and defined e-mentoring and structured e-mentoring programs, focusing on large-scale e-mentoring programs that addressed issues of social equity and educational advancement. The literature reviewed spanned from the mid-1990s to the present and included journal articles, reports, and book chapters on implemented e-mentoring programs. The literature indicates that ementoring is not a panacea, neither is it an inexpensive alternative to face-to-face mentoring. Ementoring is an alternative mode that facilitates the expansion of mentoring opportunities. The research we reviewed supported that the benefits associated with e-mentoring mirrored the benefits associated with mentoring: informational, psychosocial, and instrumental. In addition, research supports two additional benefits of e-mentoring: the value of impartiality and inter-organizational connections, which were facilitated by the use of electronic communications. Research conducted on the programmatic features associated with e-mentoring programs identified training, coaching, and group e-mentoring as features that enhanced participant involvement. Our goal in providing a review of the research at this stage in the development of e-mentoring was to facilitate increased understanding of the current research to enhance future research and programs and to advance ementoring as a field.