Br. Ragins et al., Marginal mentoring: The effects of type of mentor, quality of relationship, and program design on work and career attitudes, ACAD MGMT J, 43(6), 2000, pp. 1177-1194
Employing a national sample of 1,162 employees, we examined the relationshi
p between jab and career attitudes and the presence of a mentor, the mentor
's type (formal or informal), the quality of the mentoring relationship, an
d the perceived effectiveness and design of a formal mentoring program. Sat
isfaction with a mentoring relationship had a stronger impact on attitudes
than the presence of a mentor, whether the relationship was formal or infor
mal, or the design of a formal mentoring program.