Mentorship racial composition and the judgments made by individuals external to the relationship

• Main Author: Poteat, Laura F
• Format: Others
• Published: Scholar Commons 2009
• Subjects: Diversified mentoring; Mentor; Protégé; Race; Ethnicity; Attribution; Reward; Career advancement potential; American Studies; Arts and Humanities
• Online Access: http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/etd/2151; http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3150&context=etd

The purpose of this study was to examine how the racial composition of a mentoring relationship influences three types of judgments made by individuals external to the relationship: (1) causal attributions formed to explain successful protégé performance; (2) evaluations of protégé career advancement potential; and (3) reward recommendations for the mentor and protégé. Additionally, the associations among causal attributions, evaluations of potential, and reward recommendations were investigated. A 2 (protégé race: white vs. black) x 2 (mentor race: white vs. black) factorial between-subjects design was used. Mentor and protégé races were manipulated within a written vignette. After reading the vignette, participants responded to items measuring their judgments about the mentor and protégé depicted in the vignette. The final sample consisted of 194 white, employed individuals. Overall, results did not support the hypothesized racial effects on the three types of judgments. However, support was found for the predicted associations among the different judgment types. Implications of these findings, as well as directions for future research, are discussed.