Protean and boundaryless careers : Exploring the role of mentoring and gender in the context of a major African country

Purpose – The study aims to explore the role of mentoring and the moderating effects of gender on protean and boundaryless career orientations in the African albeit Nigerian cultural context. Design/methodology/approach – Data were collected from 250 Nigerian nurses through a questionnaire. Findings – Mentoring support predicted protean career dimensions but was non-significant for boundaryless career dimensions. Gender directly accounted for a significant percentage of the variance in physical mobility in favor of women but did not predict self-directed, value-driven and psychological mobility career attitudes. Gender significantly moderated the relationship between mentoring and new career dimensions except physical mobility. Research limitations/implications – The male sample was limited and data from a single professional group/organization in Nigeria may not typify organizations in general. This calls for caution in generalizing findings. Practical implications – Proactive career management and value-driven attitudes can be fostered by ensuring quality mentor support. The peculiar direct and moderating effects of gender on protean and boundaryless careers deserve particular attention. Originality/value – The absence of African perspectives on new career directions in most reference journals limits the global scope of comparative studies. The present study provides information on the under-researched role of mentoring and gender in modern career models from Africa, and makes useful theoretical contributions to new career perspectives, especially in the context of how relationships among study variables may differ across national cultural contexts.