Volume 30 Number 1 June 2005

Does Mentor Support Increase Women's Career Advancement More than Men's? The Differential Effects of Career and Psychosocial Support

Phyllis Tharenou

Abstract

Based on past research on mentoring, this study examined if mentor career support helped women's career advancement more than it did men's, and more than psychosocial (emotional) support did. The sample of 3220 Australians, chiefly from the public sector and finance and business service industry, were surveyed twice, a year apart. Mentor career support increased women proteges' advancement more than it did men's, whereas psychosocial support generally reduced women's advancement more than it did men's. Unexpectedly, female mentors, not males, had the strongest effects, both helping and hindering their proteges' advancement. Mentor support was not related to men's advancement. Why mentoring was differently related to men's and women's advancement was discussed.

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Keywords

MENTORING; WOMEN IN MANAGEMENT; GENDER DIFFERENCES; ADVANCEMENT.

Contact Details Phyllis Tharenou Division of Business and Enterprise, University of South Australia, City West Campus, North Terrace SA 5000 E-mail: phyllis.tharenou@unisa.edu.au

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