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The objectives of this study were twofold: to determine the effect mentoring has on a set of career and emotional outcomes for female lawyers and to determine whether female lawyers benefit more from having had a male or female mentor. All of these assessments were conducted while controlling for a set of demographic, human capital, work context, and personality disposition variables. Having a mentor appears instrumental for the career success of female protégés in terms of earnings, promotional opportunities, procedural justice, and social integration. In addition, in terms of the emotional outcomes, protégés report greater career satisfaction than nonprotégés and indicate that their expectations are met to a greater degree. While female protégés with male mentors earn significantly more than those with female mentors, those mentored by women report more career satisfaction, more intent to continue practicing law, professional expectations that were met to a greater degree, and less work–nonwork conflict than those women who were mentored by men

Recently, considerably more attention is being given to the benefits of mentors in the workplace. The literature suggests that mentoring functions may be especially important for female professionals’ careers because they tend to face greater organizational, interpersonal, and individual barriers to advancement than their male counterparts (Kanter, 1977; Noe, 1988; Ragins, 1989; Ragins & Scandura, 1994; Wright & Wright, 1987). While numerous studies have examined the benefits of mentoring, they tend to limit their focus to only a few outcomes, such as pay and promotions, and they tend to exclude relevant control variables in their analysis (Burke & McKeen, 1997; Fagenson, 1989; Koberg, Boss & Goodman, 1998; Kram, 1985; Ragins, 1989; Ragins & McFarlin, 1990). The first goal of this article is to empirically assess the potential benefits of mentoring for female lawyers. In doing so, I control for certain individual and organizational factors that may be relevant in understanding the outcomes of mentor–prot´eg´e relationships. Two specific outcomes are introduced in this study that are expected to be particularly relevant for professional women. These include the extent to which having been mentored enhances professional women’s sense of social integration at work and reduces their work–family conflict. In addition, the literature suggests that male and female mentors may play different roles for female prot´eg´es working in male-dominated organizations or occupations (Noe, 1988; Ragins, 1989, 1997; Ragins&McFarlin, 1990). Nearly all previous research, however, has investigated the effects of mentors’ gender and prot´eg´es’ gender separately without taking into account the conjoint effects of the gender composition of the relationship (Ragins, 1997). The second goal of this study is to examine whether female prot´eg´es benefit more from having a male mentor or a female mentor in terms of the career and emotional outcomes examined in this paper.

The objectives of this study were twofold: to determine the effect of having been mentored on a set of career and emotional outcomes for female lawyers and to determine whether female prot´eg´es benefit more from having had a male or female mentor. All of these assessments were conducted controlling for demographic, human capital, work context, and personality disposition variables that the literature suggests may be related to being mentored and the outcome variables. The Benefits of Mentoring Female lawyers appear to benefit from mentoring in that prot´eg´es report they earn more and they feel they have more promotional opportunities than nonprot ´eg´es. They are also more likely to feel the procedures used for allocating rewards are fair and they are more socially integrated with their coworkers than nonprot´eg´es, although the significance of these findings is somewhat marginal. In general, having a mentor appears to be somewhat instrumental for the career success of professional women. These findings are consistent with those reported in the literature on samples that include both men and women (e.g., Dreher & Ash, 1990; Dreher & Cox, 1996; Fagenson, 1989; Scandura, 1992, 1997; Whitely et al., 1991). While these findings are consistent with past research, it is important to consider what specific skills prot´eg´es acquire that lead their employers to pay them more and lead prot´eg´es to perceive more promotional opportunities. Instruments that measure mentoring functions tend to be generic in nature in assessing the extent to which prot´eg´es have received career development or psychosocial mentoring. For example, the traditional rating scales measure the extent to which mentors coach, sponsor, protect, or counsel their prot´eg´es (e.g., Ragins & McFarlin, 1990; Scandura, 1992). The benefits of such scales are efficient administration, high reliability, established validity, and comparability across samples and studies. These measures may be limited, however, because they may not adequately capture the mentoring experiences that are relevant to the unique situations specific to each job. For example, what specific job skills or advantages do lawyers acquire from being mentored that yield more pay and promotions compared to those obtained by mentored university professors, sales workers, accountants, or engineers? Perhaps more fine-grained research would help to identify and assess the specific job skills that prot´eg´es in particular occupations acquire through the mentoring process.While earnings, perceived promotional opportunities, and procedural justice have been examined in other studies, social integrationwas introduced in this article as a career outcome that should be particularly relevant to professional women in male-dominated fields. The results show that female prot´eg´es feel more socially integrated than nonprot´eg´es, and this finding holds regardless of their mentor’s gender. Because this finding was only significant at the .10 level, however, future studies that use larger samples may consider investigating the benefits of mentoring in terms of prot´eg´es’ social integration. There are two reasons why it is important to investigate this relation further. First, it has been argued that being mentored may have a detrimental effect on prot´eg´es’ interpersonal relationships with others because of the special attention prot´eg´es receive and the outcomes associated with being mentored that may arouse jealousy among coworkers (Kanter, 1977; Kram, 1985; Noe, 1988). Fagenson (1994) found that prot´eg´es and nonprot´eg´es did not differ, however, in their perceptions of their relationships with others in the workplace and this study suggests that perhaps prot´eg´es report closer relationships with coworkers than nonprot´eg´es. Second, much of the literature on cross-gender mentoring suggests that female prot´eg´es with female mentors are more likely than female prot´eg´es with male mentors to report participating in social activities with their mentors (Ragins & Cotton, 1999). While this specific type of interaction was not examined empirically in this study, the marginal findings do suggest that having a male mentor may mean femTurning next to the findings for the emotional outcomes, female prot´eg´es report they are considerably more satisfied with their careers and that their expectations have been met to a greater degree than nonprot´eg´es. These findings suggest that prot´eg´es do not benefit by being more likely to continue practicing law nor are they better than their nonprot´eg´e counterparts at coping with the stresses associated with work–nonwork conflict. However, when the impact of having had a male or female mentor was examined, the results suggest that female lawyers with female mentors are more satisfied with their careers and less likely to intend to leave the profession, their expectations are met to a greater degree, and they report less work–nonwork conflict that those mentored by male lawyers. These findings are discussed in greater detail belowale prot´eg´es with male mentors are more socially isolated than female prot´eg´es with female mentors and this also warrants further attention.Gender Composition of the Mentoring Relationship The gender composition of the mentoring relationship appears to be more relevant to the female prot´eg´es’ emotional outcomes than to their career outcomes. The results show that only one career outcome was affected by mentor’s gender— where female prot´eg´es report significantly higher earnings if their mentor is male as opposed to female. The average earnings of female prot´eg´es is $82,650 and those with male mentors report higher earnings that average $14,020 more a year than those obtained by prot´eg´es with female mentors.5 This finding regarding the earnings benefit of having a male mentor is consistent with findings reported elsewhere (Dreher & Cox, 1996; Ragins & Cotton, 1999). As indicated above, the results for the emotional outcomes show that female prot´eg´es benefit more from being mentored by women. These findings appear to support the argument made earlier that female mentors are better able than male mentors to identify with their female prot´eg´es and prepare them for the unique stresses and difficulties thatwomen practicing lawface (Baugh et al., 1996; Nelson & Quick, 1985; Ragins & McFarlin, 1990). While we see that female prot´eg´es with male mentors may earn more than those with female mentors, the emotional benefits cannot be ignored. As noted by Ragins (1989), there definitely appears to be certain “trade-offs” that female prot´eg´es may wish to consider when selecting a mentor. Work–family conflict is an emotional outcome that was introduced in this study as a possible indicator of a benefit of having had a mentor for female professionals. The rationale provided above was that this type of stress is particularly relevant to professionalwomen and that perhaps being mentored by anotherwoman might help to cope with, and therefore reduce, such conflict. The results of this study showthat female prot´eg´es with female mentors report significantly lesswork–family conflict than those with male mentors. This finding is important because recent surveys suggest that women are leaving the legal profession in larger proportions than men because of the difficulties they face in balancing a demanding career with a family (Hagan & Kay, 1995). Future research should examine the specific ways in which female mentors better prepare and socialize their prot´eg´es such that their career expectations are met to a greater extent, they cope better with work and family demands, and they are more satisfied and committed to their careers in general. The findings of this study have important implications for female professionals. The career and emotional outcomes are related (see Table 1), suggesting that this is not a zero-sum situation where prot´eg´es may only receive one type of benefit at the exclusion of the other. However, it appears that they do tend to benefit in different areas and to a different degree depending on the gender of their mentor. Perhaps the ideal situation then is to have both a male mentor who provides more instrumental career functions that result in higher earnings and a female mentor who better meets prot´eg´es’ emotional and personal needs. Such multiple-mentor situations have only recently been proposed in the literature in terms of group mentoring (Dansky, 1996) and team mentoring (Eby, 1997; Ragins, 1997) and future research may contrast and compare the mentoring functions and benefits of having single versus multiple mentors. Impact of Control Variables The regression results serve to illustrate the relevance of the control variables when we see how significant they are in explaining the various career and emotional outcomes examined in this study. As noted in the literature, when such factors are controlled, it should not be surprising to see that the benefits of mentoring relationships are more limited than those reported in other studies (Burke & McKeen, 1997; Ragins & McFarlin, 1990). In this study, prot´eg´e status remains a significant determinant of 6 of the 8 outcome variables, after taking into account 10 demographic, human capital, work context, and personality controls. While the presence or lack of a mentor explains only a small amount of unique variance in the outcome variables, after taking into account such a large number of control variables, the findings suggest that mentors do have a significant, positive influence. This approach provides a more rigorous and convincing test of the benefits of mentoring relationships and the findings suggest that the significant differences reported in this article are genuine. In addition to benefiting from being mentored, the results also show that female professionals benefit fromworking in certainwork contexts and having certain personality traits, and these hold regardless of prot´eg´e status. For example, the work context variables appear important in explaining all four career outcome variables such that lawyers working in law firms generally report more benefits. Mentoring as a method of training may become part of the corporate culture of an organization where it is customary for employees to advance through the organization as a result of the direct help of a mentor (Zey, 1984). Law firms are expected to endorse the mentoring model more so than other settings where lawyers work because mentoring is consistent with the law firm’s cultural ethos and law firms are more supportive of the professional development of their members (Laband & Lentz, 1995; Mobley et al., 1994). The staffing of law firms is fundamentally based on the Cravath System” (Spangler, 1986), where the first principle is the in-house, onthe- job training of younger lawyers by their senior colleagues. Lawyers enter the firm as associates and are trained within the law firm as they are paid a salary with the prospect of being promoted to partner after 6 or 7 years of an apprentice-like probationary period. Future research might explore the extent to which the employing organization reflects a corporate culture consistent with the mentoring model. The three personality traits included in the analyses are also important for understanding both the career and emotional outcome variables examined in this study. Individuals’ dispositional traits can work in two ways to affect the probability of being mentored and this might be particularly important when examining the likelihood of men and women entering mentoring relationships. That is, certain traits may predispose potential prot´eg´es to initiate mentoring relationships because they seek to invest in their human capital and enhance their career success (Turban & Dougherty, 1994). Alternatively, certain traits may attract mentors to individuals who appear to want to learn, who are enjoyable to be with, and who are successoriented (Kram, 1985). Future research might explore whether personality traits, such as affect,work involvement, and locus of control, influence men andwomen’s likelihood of being in a mentoring relationship and the associated benefits, which was beyond the scope of this study. For example, researchers may investigate such questions as Are women who possess certain traits more likely to be selected than others? Are these traits the same as those sought for potential male prot´eg´es? and Do male and female mentors differ in the traits they prefer when selecting prot´eg´es? Limitations of the Study Last, it is important to note the limitations of this study. First, the measure of the mentoring relationshipwas restricted to comparing those who have ever had a mentor to those who have not and the gender of the mentor. While this limited approach to tapping the mentorship relationship was effective in demonstrating the benefits of mentoring, more detailed information regarding characteristics of the mentoring relationship might better tap the complex conditions under which prot´eg´es benefit from such relationships. For example, recent studies have demonstrated the importance differentiating between informal and formal mentoring relationships (e.g., Chao et al., 1992; Ragins & Cotton, 1999; Seibert, 1999). As well, whether the mentor is internal to the organization or external has been suggested to be an important factor that should be considered (Ragins, 1997). By collecting such information, future research can examine the unique benefits and disadvantages of different types of mentoring relationships.Second, the article did not take into account the extent to which mentoring functions (e.g., career and psychosocial) were provided. That is, variations in the quality of the mentoring relationships were not examined in terms of the different amounts of coaching, counseling, and role modeling individual prot´eg´es received. Many of the studies that do measure the extent to which specific mentoring functions are provided, however, do not usually examine their relationship with specific career and emotional outcome variables. Scandura and her colleagues are an exception because they have shown that the career development function is negatively related to turnover (Scandura & Viator, 1994), career (vocational) mentoring is positively associated with promotions, and the social support function is positively associated with salary (Scandura, 1992). Few studies have demonstrated how the widely documented specific mentoring functions (e.g., coaching, protecting, counseling, or role modeling) are associated with specific benefits or outcomes of mentoring. Thus, researchers may pursue this line of research in future studies. Several other limitations of this study must be mentioned as well. The crosssectional data presented in this study are based on subjective self-reports from the perspective of prot´eg´es. Such data are susceptible to distortions resulting from respondents answering so as to maintain a consistent series of answers or present themselves in a favorable light or from other effects of common method variance (Podaskoff & Organ, 1986). Future research may consider using more objective measures of the outcomes assessed as well as mentor reports of career outcomes in attempting to reduce such threats. In addition, future research should involve longitudinal analyses that can more clearly establish the causal ordering among predictors related to prot´eg´e status and the subsequent emotional and career outcomes.This analysiswas limited to female prot´eg´esworking in a single male-dominated profession, namely the legal profession. Much of the research has tended to focus primarily on male-dominated occupations, such as accounting or management, and we should attempt to broaden our samples to include more female-dominated and gender-neutral occupations. As well, men were excluded from this research because of the underrepresentation of female mentors, which did not permit analysis of the impact of composition of the mentoring relationship for male prot´eg´es. This limitation has been reported elsewhere (e.g., Ragins & Cotton, 1999; Ragins & McFarlin, 1990) and researchers should recognize the need to explore the nature of the mentoring relationship and subsequent benefits for male prot´eg´es with female mentors. In conclusion, by taking into account the gender composition of the mentoring relationship we can better understand the benefits of mentoring for female professionals. The findings suggest that even though female lawyers report significantly higher earnings if their mentor is male, female prot´eg´es benefit more from being mentored by women in terms of the four emotional outcomes examined in this study. Whether the benefits of mentoring for male professionals also differ by their mentor’s gender was beyond the scope of this study due to the underrepresentation of men with female mentors. Future studies need to use large-enough samples that represent both forms of cross-gender mentoring relationships in order to better understand the benefits of these diversified mentoring relationships.