Revenge Exacerbates the Effects of Interpersonal Problems on Mentors’ Emotional Exhaustion and Work‐Family Conflict: A Self‐Defeating Perspective

• Published date: 01 September 2017
• Author: Yi‐Ling Hu,Ho Kwong Kwan,Shouming Chen,Jian Yi
• Date: 01 September 2017
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/hrm.21808

Human Resource Management, September–October 2017, Vol. 56, No. 5. Pp. 851–866

© 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Published online in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com).

DOI:10.1002/hrm.21808

Correspondence to: Shouming Chen, School of Economics and Management, Tongji University, 1239 Siping Road,

Shanghai 200092, P. R. China, Phone: 86-21-65981559, Fax: 86-21-65986304, E-mail: schen@tongji.edu.cn.

REVENGE EXACERBATES THE

EFFECTS OF INTERPERSONAL

PROBLEMS ON MENTORS’

EMOTIONAL EXHAUSTION

AND WORK-FAMILY CONFLICT:

A SELF-DEFEATING PERSPECTIVE

JIAN YI, HO KWONG KWAN, YI-LING HU, AND

SHOUMING CHEN

Drawing on conservation of resources theory, this study examined the link

between negative mentoring experiences (i.e., interpersonal problems) perceived

by mentors and their work-family confl ict (WFC) by focusing on the mediating

role of emotional exhaustion and the moderating role of revenge. The results of

a fi eld survey of 187 mentors in China supported all of our hypotheses, indicat-

ing that interpersonal problems perceived by mentors were positively related to

their WFC. This relationship was also found to be mediated by the mentors’ emo-

tional exhaustion. In addition, revenge against protégés was found to moderate

the main effect of interpersonal problems on emotional exhaustion and the indi-

rect effect of interpersonal problems on WFC. Specifi cally, revenge exacerbated

the positive relationship between interpersonal problems and emotional exhaus-

tion. Further, emotional exhaustion mediated the indirect effect of interpersonal

problems on WFC when the level of revenge was high, but not when it was low.

The fi ndings of this study provide insightful theoretical contributions and mana-

gerial implications that indicate new directions for research related to mentoring

and work-family relationships. ©2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Keywords: emotional exhaustion, mentor, negative mentoring experience,

revenge, work-family confl ict

Mentoring is an interpersonal relation-

ship between a more experienced

individual (i.e., the mentor) and a

less experienced individual (i.e., the

protégé) (Kram, 1985). There are

reasons to recommend a high-quality mentor-

ing relationship. Mentor-protégé relationships

featuring high levels of trust and mutual affect

are associated with favorable work outcomes for

mentors, including personal learning (Hirschfeld,

852 HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT, SEPTEMBER–OCTOBER 2017

Human Resource Management DOI: 10.1002/hrm

Directing scholarly

attention to

negative mentoring

experiences may

enrich the literature

on dark-side

constructs and offer

a comprehensive

picture of the

destructive impact

of negative social

relationships.

underestimate the cost of being a mentor. To the

best of our knowledge, there are no studies focusing

on mentoring’s detrimental effects on family. This

is surprising because researchers have long called

for an understanding of the work-family outcomes

for mentors, and speculated that they may be neg-

ative (Nielson, Carlson, & Lankau, 2001).

Understanding the negative effects of men-

toring experiences on mentors’ families has very

important practical implications. The family

has been regarded as the most critical nonwork

domain (Liu, Kwan, Lee, & Hui, 2013), with the

issue of work-family balance attracting increas-

ing attention in the human resource manage-

ment literature, both in the West and in the East

(e.g., Aryee, Srinivas, & Tan, 2005; Beham, Präg, &

Drobniˇc, 2012). Research has provided evidence

guiding mentors and protégés to enrich their fam-

ily lives (Kwan, Mao, & Zhang, 2010; Mao, Kwan,

Chiu, & Zhang, 2016). However, we know little

about the negative influences of being a mentor

on mentor families, an unfortunate reality. An

awareness of the negative influences on families

and the provision of assistance to experienced

organizational members to prevent or alleviate

the negative effects of mentoring could motivate

members to become mentors. Past research has

indicated that employees have difficulty finding

mentors (Singh, Ragins, & Tharenou, 2009). A

lack of mentors represents reduced opportunities

for less-experienced employees to become proté-

gés, undermining employees’ career development

and personal growth and, ultimately, organiza-

tional success (Allen, Smith, Mael, O’Shea, & Eby,

2009). To encourage experienced employees to

become mentors, organizations must understand

the destructive effect of being mentors and its

antecedents to prevent the former.

In this study, work-family conflict (WFC) was

selected as an outcome of negative mentoring

experiences. WFC is a form of inter-role conflict

in which work roles interfere with family roles

(Greenhaus & Beutell, 1985). A meta-analysis

explored whether conflict between work and fam-

ily is a bidirectional notion in which work roles can

interfere with family roles and vice versa (family-

work conflict) simultaneously (Mesmer-Magnus

& Viswesvaran, 2005). As negative mentoring

experiences occur in the workplace, this study

focuses exclusively on WFC, which has a potential

destructive influence on employees’ work-family

life and well-being (Allen, Herst, Bruck, & Sutton,

2000). The literature has concluded that WFC has

important implications for both organizations

and employees (Jennings & McDougald, 2007;

Kelly et al., 2008), and it is observed across dif-

ferent nations (e.g., Anglo, China, Latin America;

Thomas, & Lankau, 2006), social status (Liu, Liu,

Kwan, & Mao, 2009), job satisfaction, job perfor-

mance, and organizational commitment (Ghosh

& Reio, 2013) across different countries (for a

review, see Lentz & Allen, 2009). However, not

all mentoring relationships develop into high-

quality exchanges. Some deteriorate into negative

exchanges, resulting in negative perceptions of

the mentoring experience. Research has indicated

that the negative experiences perceived by men-

tors are associated with their own burnout and

intentions to leave their relationships with their

protégés (Eby, Durley, Evans, & Ragins, 2008). In

addition, recent findings have revealed that nega-

tive mentoring experiences explain more of the

variance in predicting mentor burnout than good

experiences (Eby, Butts, Durley, & Ragins, 2010).

Negative mentoring experi-

ences are different from other low-

quality interpersonal interactions

that may occur in the workplace

between coworkers (e.g., incivility)

and between supervisors and subor-

dinates (e.g., abusive supervision).

First, negative mentoring experi-

ences do not necessarily refer to any

specific offenses. Although work-

place offenses, such as uncivil and

abusive behavior, as displayed by a

protégé are likely to cause negative

mentoring experiences for men-

tors, negative mentoring experi-

ences may or may not be involved

with the exact offenses. Second,

because the expectations between

mentors and protégés are different

from those of other dyadic relation-

ships, some behaviors enacted by

a protégé may particularly cause

negative mentoring experiences.

For example, given that the main responsibility of

mentors is to facilitate their protégés to learn, pro-

tégé unwillingness to learn can trigger negative

mentoring experiences for the mentors (Eby et al.,

2008). These arguments suggest that the concept

of negative mentoring experiences is stand-alone,

which potentially explains unique variances in

negative consequences. Hence, directing scholarly

attention to negative mentoring experiences may

enrich the literature on dark-side constructs and

offer a comprehensive picture of the destructive

impact of negative social relationships.

Despite the fruitful findings of mentoring,

very few studies have examined mentors’ perspec-

tives and outcomes with regard to negative men-

toring experiences. Missing mentor research from

the dark-side approach may lead organizations to