Reflecting on an academic career: Associations between past mentoring investments and career benefits

Jordan Boeder, Veronica Fruiht, Kevin Erikson, Sarah Hwang, Giovanna Blanco, Thomas Chan

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Receiving mentoring is associated with lasting career benefits ; however, less is known about long-term career gains for mentors. A national sample of retired academics were surveyed to examine associations between past mentoring behaviors and current evaluations of their careers. Participants (N = 277) were on average 73.6 (SD = 6.2) years old with 34.9 (SD = 8.0) years of occupational tenure and 7.7 (SD = 5.8) years post-retirement. Structural equation modeling results demonstrated that having more protégés (β = .19, p = .024) and engaging in more mentoring behaviors (β = .18, p = .027) were associated with objective career achievements. However, mentoring behaviors, and not the number of protégés, were linked to subjective career achievements (β = .33, p < .001). While prior research demonstrates that mentors experience short-term benefits from mentoring, the present study’s findings suggest that mentors may also experience long-term objective and subjective career benefits.
Original languageAmerican English
Pages (from-to)607-625
JournalMentoring & Tutoring: Partnership in Learning
Volume29
Issue number5
DOIs
StatePublished - Oct 16 2021

Keywords

  • Higher Education
  • Retired Academics
  • Career Satisfaction
  • Career Success

Disciplines

  • Higher Education
  • Social Psychology

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