Mentor-protege diversity and its impact on international internship experiences

This research examines demographic diversity between mentors and proteges o n international internships. Using a sample of 138 interns on six-month ove rseas assignments, the results indicate that interns who are different in n ationality and gender from their mentors are much less likely to receive ta sk-related, social-related, and career-related support from them. Moreover, this deficit in mentoring is associated with poorer socialization to inter nship assignments, lower levels of learning about international business, l ower likelihoods of receiving and accepting job offers from internship empl oyers, and lower perceived career instrumentality of the internships. The i mplications of the results for future research on mentor-protege diversity and the design of international internships are discussed as well. Copyrigh t (C) 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.