The impact of mentoring quality on protégés' organization‐based self‐esteem and proactive behavior: The moderating role of traditionality

• Author: Haiyan Zhai,Ho Kwong Kwan,Yijing Lyu,Xiangfan Wu
• Date: 01 July 2019
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/hrm.21968
• Published date: 01 July 2019

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

The impact of mentoring quality on protégés' organization-

based self-esteem and proactive behavior: The moderating role

of traditionality

Xiangfan Wu

1

| Yijing Lyu

2

| Ho Kwong Kwan

3

| Haiyan Zhai

4

1

School of Business Administration, Xinjiang

University of Finance and Economics, Xinjiang,

China

2

College of Business, Shanghai University of

Finance and Economics, Shanghai, China

3

Organizational Behavior and Human

Resource Management Department, China

Europe International Business School (CEIBS),

Shanghai, China

4

School of Business Administration, Shanghai

Lixin University of Accounting and Finance,

Shanghai, China

Correspondence

Ho Kwong Kwan, OrganizationalBehavior and

Human ResourceManagement Department,

China Europe InternationalBusiness School

(CEIBS), 699 HongfengRoad, Shanghai

201206, China.

Email: weicheong2317@hotmail.com

Funding information

National Natural Science Foundation of China,

Grant/Award Numbers: 71662032, 71672108

Abstract

Based on self-consistency theory, this study examined the relationship between

mentoring quality as perceived by protégés and protégés' proactive behavior. It

focused on the mediating role of organization-based self-esteem (OBSE) and the

moderating role of traditionality. To examine these relationships, we administrated

three-wave surveys to 237 subordinate–supervisor dyads in a construction enter-

prise. The results of hierarchical linear modeling demonstrated that (a) mentoring

quality and proactive behavior had a positive relationship; (b) OBSE mediated this

relationship; and (c) traditionality strengthened both the relationship between men-

toring quality and OBSE and the indirect effect of mentoring quality on proactive

behavior via OBSE. Our findings have theoretical and practical implications for

research on mentoring and proactive behavior.

KEYWORDS

mentoring, organization-based self-esteem, proactive behavior, traditionality

1|INTRODUCTION

Mentorship has been identified as an important instrument for human

resource practices and has received increasing attention in the

research field of management (Allen, Eby, Chao, & Bauer, 2017;

Bozionelos & Wang, 2006). Recent empirical evidence has attested to

various antecedents of mentoring functions (Ghosh, 2014) and their

beneficial impact on protégés, such as increased promotional opportu-

nities and job performance (Dickson et al., 2014; Kammeyer-Mueller &

Judge, 2008; Sun, Pan, & Chow, 2014).

Mentorship is an interpersonal relationship between a less-

experienced individual (protégé) and a more-experienced one (mentor)

(Kram, 1985). From the time mentoring was first introduced to organi-

zational researchers (Kram, 1985), research on mentoring functions

has expanded a great deal, with much of that research appearing in

recent decades (Allen et al., 2017; Sun et al., 2014). However, little

research has paid attention to whether mentorship quality would help

encourage protégés' proactive behavior (Parker, Williams, & Turner,

2006). Proactive behavior refers to “taking initiative in improving cur-

rent circumstances or creating new ones; it involves challenging the

status quo rather than passively adapting to present conditions”

(Crant, 2000, p. 436). Indeed, organizations are now facing highly

diverse and rapidly changing environments. As a result, they must deal

with numerous nonroutine encounters (Raub & Liao, 2012). For

instance, service organizations must cope with numerous unexpected

customer demands to achieve satisfactory service delivery, and

manufacturing organizations must attach great importance to rapid

updates to stay ahead of industry competition. Given the critical role

of proactive behavior in organizational success (Parker et al., 2006),

the first contribution of this study is to enriching the mentorship liter-

ature by expanding outcome variables to include proactive behavior.

Xiangfan Wu and Yijing Lyu contributed equally to this study.

An earlier draft of this paper was presented at the 2018 International Association for Chinese

Management Research Conference, Wuhan, China.

DOI: 10.1002/hrm.21968

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