How providing mentoring relates to career success and organizational commitment : A study in the general managerial population

Purpose – This study aims to investigate the relationship of mentoring provided with career success and organizational commitment in the general managerial population. Design/methodology/approach – Participants were 194 native British who were employed in a variety of jobs, professions and industries in the United Kingdom. Findings – Mentoring provided was positively associated with objective and subjective career success and with mentoring received. Furthermore, mentoring provided mediated the relationship between mentoring received and both aspects of career success. However, although career‐related mentoring provided was positively associated with mentors' career success and affective organizational commitment, socio‐emotional mentoring provided was unrelated to mentors' career success and was negatively related to their affective commitment. Research limitations/implications – The study adds to the literature by indicating that, at least in the Anglo‐Saxon organizational environment, mentoring provided, and especially its career‐related dimension, is associated with positive outcomes across occupational, professional and organizational boundaries, and that mentoring receipt increases the likelihood of mentoring provision later in the career. Practical implications – Encouraging organizational members to provide mentoring for junior colleagues establishes and perpetuates a mentoring cycle, which entails benefits for mentors, protégés and the organization. Originality/value – This is the first study to investigate the relationship of mentoring provision with career success and organizational commitment in the general working population; hence, to yield generalizable conclusions. In addition it informs on the relative contribution of career‐related and socio‐emotional mentoring provided to mentor's career outcomes.