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The purpose of this study is to investigate a four-year mentorship program for Japanese graduate students at a private university in Tokyo, Japan. The following research questions were investigated: First, does mentorship provide effective and adequate preparation needed for graduate students to perform competitively (e.g. attending conferences, publishing in journals, etc.) in academic forums? Second, what kinds of benefits are gained by the mentees? Third, what factors are conducive to the benefits accrued by the mentees? Fourth, what are the obstacles to providing an effective mentorship program?

Adopting narrative approach as its research method, this study collected and analyzed reflective essays from 13 Japanese students in a TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) program.

Particular types of mentoring which encouraged active participation in scholarly activities through appropriately scaffolded inductions into academia led to increased mentee confidence in terms of making the transition from student to scholar.

The students should not remain assistants on the periphery of academia, but rather play active roles to extend their knowledge and expertise to something that they can attain only with appropriate scaffolding (Vygotsky, 1981). In order to promote such mentorship, it is emphasized that institutional support is indispensable, and that the significance of solid mentorship programs should be re-acknowledged and discussed on an official level.

The study of mentoring within a Japanese context, in particular from the perspectives of sociocultural theory (Vygotsky, 1981) and Bandura's (1994, 1995) self-efficacy theory, is an under-researched area.

The aims of this critical review are to identify the mentor characteristics that lead to superior mentoring outcomes and to provide human resources development (HRD) professionals with evidence-based suggestions for recruiting, selecting and training mentors to improve mentorship programme effectiveness.

The authors conducted a critical review of existing quantitative research on mentor characteristics that have an impact on effective mentoring.

The authors identified five key categories of mentor characteristics linked to successful mentoring outcomes: competency in context-relevant knowledge, skills and abilities; commitment and initiative; interpersonal skills; pro-social orientation and an orientation toward development, exploration and expansion.

There is limited research on the characteristics of ineffective mentor characteristics, exclusion of articles that used qualitative research methods exclusively and how technology-based communication in mentoring may require different characteristics. Most of the included studies collected data in the United States of America, which may exclude other important mentor characteristics from other non-Western perspectives.

To ensure that there is both a sufficient pool of qualified mentors and mentors who meet the desired criteria, focus on both recruitment and training mentors is important. Incorporating the desired mentor characteristics into both of these processes, rather than just selection, will help with self-selection and development of these characteristics.

Despite the ongoing interest in identifying effective mentor characteristics, the existing literature is fragmented, making this challenging for HRD professionals to determine which characteristics are crucial for mentoring relationships and programme success. Addressing this practical need, this critical review synthesises the research literature and identifies patterns and inconsistencies. Based on the review, the authors provide evidence-based recommendations to enhance the recruitment, selection and training of mentors.

A continued focus in organizational research has been on career development, and mentoring has been identified as a key determinant of career success. The purpose of this paper is to focus on the interpersonal dynamics which contribute to variations in the effectiveness of mentoring support behaviors. Specifically, the effects of mentoring relational quality (MRQ) (i.e. affective perceptions held by mentors and protégés) on mentoring behaviors (i.e. vocational and psychosocial) as well as professional identification are considered. Interpersonal skills (e.g. behavioral integrity and political skill) of mentors and protégés are examined for their impact on MRQ.

Utilizing matched dyadic survey data from 100 mentor-protégé pairs in academe (i.e. dissertation chairs and doctoral candidates or recent doctoral alumni), partial least squares was used to test the research model.

Results support MRQ as an integral component in mentoring dynamics. MRQ for mentors and protégés was significantly linked with mentor support behaviors provided and received, respectively. Mentors’ perceptions of MRQ were predicted by protégés’ behavioral integrity and mentors’ political skill. Similarly, protégés’ political skill and mentors’ behavioral integrity significantly predicted protégés’ perceptions of MRQ. Further, mentors and protégés reported higher levels of professional identification when MRQ was high.

This study links affective and behavioral perspectives of mentoring, revealing the importance of interpersonal skill in career development. The interpersonal dynamics characteristic of mentor-protégé interactions determine the extent to which mentoring support behaviors may actually be provided by mentors and received by protégés.

The purpose of this qualitative review paper is to identify for practitioners ways of matching mentors and protégés to enhance the effectiveness of formal mentoring programs.

The paper qualitatively reviews the best available evidence of ways to match mentors and protégés to maximize mentorship outcomes.

Two factors to consider when making mentor–protégé matches emerged from the research literature (1) the matching process (i.e., how matches are made and facilitated by practitioners such as incorporating participant input on matches): and (2) individual characteristics (i.e., individual differences that may serve as matching criteria such as experiential, surface-level, and deep-level characteristics). This qualitative review resulted in three practical recommendations to practitioners interested in matching mentors and protégés using evidence-based methods: (1) match based on deep-level similarities, (2) consider developmental-needs of protégés during matching, and (3) seek mentors' and protégés’ input before finalizing matches.

Limitations of the research reviewed are highlighted: measures of perceived similarity, relative effectiveness of matching-related factors, limited research investigating the role of dissimilarity on mentoring outcomes, and linear relationship assumptions between matching-related factors and mentoring outcomes.

The authors’ recommendations suggested greater use of valid psychometric assessments to facilitate matching based on actual assessed data rather than program administrators' personal knowledge of mentors and protégés.

The literature on mentor–protégé matching is missing practical guidance on how to apply the research. This highlights a need for a qualitative review of the literature to identify what matching processes and criteria are most effective, providing a “one-stop-shop” for practitioners seeking advice on how to construct effective mentor–protégé matches in formal mentorship programs.

There is a paucity of STEM professionals in the United States and an enduring disparity between the number of underrepresented minorities (URMs) and Caucasians entering and persisting in STEM. Many of the national initiatives to address the lack of STEM professionals in the United States are focused on increasing diversity among students in higher education. Although the number of URMs entering STEM degrees is increasing, those entering STEM professions remains low. Successful mentorships can encourage both study and persistence in STEM. The current chapter describes some of the theoretical underpinnings, based on the science of Psychology, which undergird successful mentoring models, and includes a discussion of mentee benefits and barriers to becoming a mentor as well as factors associated with motivation to mentor. Theories of mentoring are presented as context for the latter half of the chapter. A guide is outlined for a successful mentoring model students at HBCUs to persist in STEM. Components of the model that are detailed include essential goals, process elements, and content elements. Current literature addresses mentoring URM students in STEM, but does not specifically address working with STEM students at Historically Black Colleges and Universities. This chapter provides a theory-based model for mentoring STEM students in the unique environment of HBCUs. This chapter also highlights Psychology, an oft-overlooked STEM discipline, which has a substantial role to play in framing successful mentoring programs through its evidence-based science and theory.

There is currently a great deal of attention in psychometric and statistical methods on ensuring measurement invariance when examining measures across time or populations. When measurement invariance is established, changes in scores over time or across groups can be attributed to changes in the construct rather than changes in reaction to or interpretation of the measurement instrument. When measurement in not invariant, it is possible that measured differences are due to the measurement instrument itself and not to the underlying phenomenon of interest. This chapter discusses the importance of establishing measurement invariance specifically in postsecondary settings, where it is anticipated that individuals' perspectives will change over time as a function of their higher education experiences. Using examples from several measures commonly used in higher education research, the concepts and processes underlying tests of measurement invariance are explained and analyses are interpreted using data from a US-based longitudinal study on bioscience PhD students. These measures include sense of belonging over time and across groups, mental well-being over time, and perceived mentorship quality over time. The chapter ends with a discussion about the implications of longitudinal and group measurement invariance as an important conceptual property for moving forward equitable, reproducible, and generalizable quantitative research in higher education. Invariance methods may further be relevant for addressing criticisms about quantitative analyses being biased toward majority populations that have been discussed by critical theorists engaging quantitative research strategies.

This chapter proposes a global agenda to eliminate racism in nursing by targeting reform at nursing education administration internationally. First, the history of racism in nursing is reviewed, along with two models – the diversity model and the cultural competence model – that were applied unsuccessfully to counteract racism in nursing. Second, a description of how racism is entrenched in nursing leadership globally is presented. Third, the recalcitrant structures that serve to maintain institutionalized racism (IR) in the international nursing education system are carefully examined. Specifically, the components and constructs involved in IR in nursing education are delineated, and the way in which these negatively impact both ethnic minority (EM) students and faculty are explained. Based on this, a global agenda to eliminate racism in nursing education internationally is proposed. Eliminating racism in higher education in nursing is a mandatory social responsibility if global healthcare is ever to be equitable. Five actionable recommendations are made to eliminate racism in higher education are summarized as follows: (1) components of nursing programs which are designed to eliminate racism in nursing education should be governed at the country level, (2) to design and implement a system of surveillance of the global nursing community to enable standardized measurement to ensure nursing education programs in all countries are meeting anti-racism benchmark targets, (3) nursing education programs should be established worldwide to provide individual pipeline and mentorship programs to ensure the career success of EM nursing students and faculty, (4) nursing education programs should be conducted to reduce barriers to EM participation in these individual support programs, and (5) nursing education programs are required to teach their nursing faculty skills in developing anti-racist curricula that seeks to eliminate implicit bias.

Protean career orientation is a key element that helps explain why workers plan and manage their careers. In the field of nursing, a protean career orientation assists nurses in job search, career mobility and adapting to changing demands. Few studies have explored how nurses’ protean career orientation will lead to job search and how to make better use of the protean career orientation. This study aims to explore how a protean career orientation influences job search via career optimism and the moderating role of mentoring relationships.

This study conducted a cross-sectional survey of 309 frontline nurses from China. The questionnaire was distributed to nurses through the snowball sampling method. Jamovi 1.2.2 was used for descriptive analysis and Pearson’s correlation analysis. The relationships between the variables and their significance were tested using Process Macro 3.3.

Results show that protean career orientation was significantly related to career optimism and positively related to job search. Career optimism was significantly related to job search. The indirect effect of protean career orientation on job search through career optimism was significant. The interaction between protean career orientation and mentoring relationships was also significantly related to career optimism.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to demonstrate how nurses’ flexible career orientation significantly impacted job search through nurses’ career optimism. If nurses work in supportive mentoring relationships, the positive effect of the nurse’s protean career orientation on the job search is decreased.

To examine how perceptions of complementary and supplementary fit and relationship quality contribute to successful mentorship co-creation.

Data were collected via cross-sectional survey of 145 mentor–protégé dyads within institutions of higher education in the USA. Mentors evaluated their perceptions of supplementary and complementary fit and relationship quality with their protégés and vice versa. Additionally, mentors evaluated their protégés’ performance, whereas protégés reported on their own learning. Data were analyzed using the actor–partner interdependence model.

Results suggest that one's own fit perceptions are most important in predicting one's evaluation of relationship quality. Additionally, for both mentor and protégé, complementary fit and supplementary fit predict evaluations of relationship quality to a similar degree. Finally, each person's perceptions of relationship quality mediated the relationships between their own perceptions of fit and mentor-rated protégé performance, but not the relationships between perceptions of fit and protégé-rated learning.

Research has often studied mentorships from the perspective of one party, which limits our understanding of mentorship co-creation. This study investigates how both parties simultaneously contribute to mentorship success, as indicated by protégé learning and performance. Additionally, the authors clarify the extent to which perceptions of different types of fit are instrumental in co-creating successful mentorships.

The purpose of this paper is to examine how doctoral students experienced mentorship in their supervision context and how the mentorship they received impacted their well-being.

An interpretive phenomenological methodology was selected to frame the research design. This research approach seeks to study the individual lived experience by exploring, describing and analyzing its meaning.

The findings revealed three different quality levels of mentorship in this context authentic mentorship, average mentorship and below average/toxic mentorship. Doctoral students who enjoyed authentic mentorship experiences were more motivated and satisfied, students who reported average mentorships needed more attention and time from their supervisors, and students who had below average/toxic mentorships were stressed out and depleted.

A limitation of this study is the lack of generalizability owing to the small sample size typical in qualitative studies. Another limitation is that this research did not include students who quit their programs because of dysfunctional supervision experiences.

Students and supervisors can use the findings to reflect on their beliefs and practices to evaluate and improve their performances. Also, authentic mentors can benefit from the findings to create a positive culture for all students to receive support. Finally, current supervisory policies can be reviewed in light of this paper’s findings.

The findings show the nature of mentorship in an authoritative context, and how it can be toxic when power is misused.

This study provides new knowledge in relation to the different types of mentorship experiences that exist in doctoral supervision, and how each type can influence students’ well-being differently. Additionally, it reveals that doctoral students can graduate, even in the face of toxic mentorship, but at the expense of their well-being.