The protege's perspective regarding negative mentoring experiences: The development of a taxonomy

A taxonomy of negative mentoring experiences was developed using descriptiv e accounts of negative mentoring experiences from the protege's perspective . Content analysis revealed 15 types of negative mentoring experiences, nes ted within five broad metathemes: Match Within the Dyad, Distancing Behavio r, Manipulative Behavior, Lack of Mentor Expertise, and General Dysfunction ality. Quantitative analyses indicated that proteges were more likely to re port that their mentor had dissimilar attitudes, values, and beliefs when d escribing their most negative mentoring relationship compared to their most positive mentoring relationship. Implications for theory-building, future research, and applied practice are discussed, (C) 2000 Academic Press.