Abstract
Three structural characteristics of mentoring dyads (the mentor’s hierarchical level, duration of the mentoring relationship, and how long the protégé has been without a mentor) were proposed as having main and possibly interactive effects with three mentoring functions (social support, career coaching, and role modeling) on five protégé outcome variables (career expectations, commitment to the firm, number of hours worked during peak season, number of direct reports supervised, and current annual salary). Data from a sample of Certified Public Accountants (CPAs; N=786) were employed to first assess the distinctiveness of the proposed three mentoring functions by maximum likelihood confirmatory factor analyses. Then, hierarchical moderated multiple regression analyses were conducted for the structural characteristics and mentoring functions. Controlling for covariates, results indicated that the three mentoring functions are separate constructs and that each structural characteristic significantly correlated with protégé career outcomes in addition to infrequently acting as moderators for the mentoring functions. Implications for future research on mentorship in organizations are discussed.