Antecedents and outcomes of trust in the mentoring relationship

Abstract

The purpose of the present study is to uncover how trust in mentoring relationships is influenced by mentor support and how trust influences positive outcomes for mentees: well-being, higher relationship quality, and job engagement. This study has a cross-sectional, survey design, using a sample of mentees, or protégés, from a Qualtrics study panel. All mentees were full-time employees, representative of the U.S. workforce, and were in the same organization as their mentor. I found that mentor support had a positive direct effect of trust and relationship quality and most interestingly that trust explained the relationship between mentor support and relationship quality and some components of well-being. No significant results were found regarding job engagement. These results have important implications for research and practice; they extend the current literature on Leader-Member Exchange, mentoring, and trust and have important implications for implementing formal mentoring programs.