اثر توابع مشاوره بر رفتار شهروندی سازمانی گیرندگان مشاوره در یک زمینه چینی: بررسی دو مطالعه

This research examines the relationship between mentoring functions received by employees and their organizational citizenship behavior (OCB), and the moderating effects of perceived quality relationships with mentoring function providers in China. Results of Study 1 from a sample of 385 supervisor–subordinate dyads reveal that role modeling received by protégés positively relates to their OCB, and perceived mentoring relationship quality moderates the association between career support received and protégés' OCB. Moreover, nonprotégés and protégés who receive high levels of overall mentoring functions perform more OCB than protégés who receive low levels of mentoring functions. Results of Study 2 from 258 supervisor–subordinate dyads show that role modeling received by subordinates positively relates to their OCB directed at individuals (OCBI) and at the organization (OCBO) while career support received positively relates to OCBO. Additionally, leader–member exchange moderates the linkages of role modeling with OCBI and OCBO.

Over the past 20 years, there has been a steady growth of research focusing on mentoring and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB), respectively (Farh et al., 2004 and Fletcher and Ragins, 2007). Mentoring functions including career support, psychosocial support, and role modeling strongly provide positive effects on receivers' career success (Scandura and Ragins, 1993). Additionally, OCB is an extra-role and discretionary behavior not directly and explicitly recognized by the formal reward system in the organization including such actions as helping other employees actively and working conscientiously (Farh et al., 2004). Interestingly, an intersection between these two important research streams has been identified. For example, Tepper and Taylor (2003) show that supervisors' mentoring behavior positively relates to subordinates' OCB. Moreover, Donaldson et al. (2000) demonstrate that the high quality of mentoring relationships perceived by employees facilitates their OCB. In spite of the above encouraging findings, five research gaps about mentoring functions and OCB can be identified. First, there is a paucity of empirical research exploring the impacts of all mentoring functions received by employees on their OCB despite the multidimensional nature of mentoring functions. For instance, the study of Tepper and Taylor (2003) is limited to a composite measure of mentoring functions. Second, moderating effects have not been examined within this research domain. Third, the association between mentoring functions and OCB has not been examined in the context of mentoring relationships. Fourth, much of the research on mentoring functions and OCB has been based on U.S. samples ( Bozionelos and Wang, 2006 and Farh et al., 2004). Finally, mentoring research in China has focused on white-collar respondents and it is interesting to conduct studies employing other occupational groups such as blue-collar workers (Bozionelos and Wang, 2006). To address these gaps, this research explores the main effects of different dimensions of mentoring functions on employees' OCB, and the moderating effects of relationship quality in China across two studies. To compare and generalize our findings in different contexts, we conducted Study 1 employing blue-collar workers in a mentor-protégé context and Study 2 using white-collar employees in a supervisor–subordinate context. The current investigation contributes to the literature on mentoring functions and OCB in several ways. First, it takes a first step toward understanding the role of different dimensions of mentoring functions in enhancing employees' OCB. Second, moderating effects of relationship quality are examined according to relational cultural theory. The kernel of relational cultural theory is that human growth takes place mainly in a context of relational connection with others, in contrast to independence and autonomy (Fletcher and Ragins, 2007), underlining the role of relational interactions in the human development process. Both givers and receivers are essential components of mentoring functions, and each party feels responsible to contribute to the growth and development of the other. The efficacy of mentoring functions on outcomes is thus mostly based on the quality of interactions between providers and receivers. Finally, our study employing both blue- and white-collar respondents in China is critical. Scholars have raised the concern that the mentoring and OCB findings from white-collar respondents in the West may not be generalized to Chinese societies because of the cultural and job role issues (Bozionelos and Wang, 2006 and Farh et al., 2004). It is thus timely to assess whether effects of mentoring functions on OCB established in the West hold in China.

This study examines whether mentoring functions received by Chinese employees influence their OCB, specifically in a mentor–protégé (Study 1) and a supervisor–subordinate (Study 2) context. Our results are consistent with social cognitive theory that role modeling received by employees positively relates to their supervisor-rated OCB in Study 1 and to their OCBI and OCBO in Study 2 and that career support positively relates to OCBO in Study 2. Moreover, with respect to relational cultural theory, we found that mentoring relationship quality moderates the relationship between career support received and protégés' OCB in Study 1, and that LMX moderates the relationships between role modeling received and subordinates' OCBI and OCBO in Study 2. Finally, consistent with social exchange theory, nonprotégés and protégés who receive high levels of overall mentoring functions perform more OCB than protégés who receive low levels of overall mentoring functions in Study 1. Inconsistent with our predictions, we could not find direct linkages of career and psychosocial support with protégés' OCB in Study 1 and associations of career support with subordinates' OCBI as well as those of psychosocial support with OCBI and OCBO in Study 2. These results may be explained in several ways. First, a meta-analysis shows that psychosocial support relating to psychological states mainly influences employees' affect rather than behaviors (Eby et al., 2008). Hence, psychosocial support tends to influence employees' job satisfaction rather than OCB. Second, career support relates to OCBO but not to OCBI because from the view of employees, mentors and supervisors may represent the organization providing career functions. Receivers may feel more of a sense of obligation to give back to the organization than to individuals. Another unexpected result is that nonprotégés and protégés who receive higher levels of overall mentoring functions perform similar levels of OCB. It may be because nonprotégés can obtain mentoring functions from other social networks in Chinese societies (Bozionelos and Wang, 2006). We could not find any moderating effects of relationship quality on the association between psychosocial support and OCB. It is possible that career and role modeling functions are less emotionally involved than psychosocial functions, and thus relationship quality plays a more important role in the impact of career and role modeling functions received. Moreover, relationship quality moderates the linkage of role modeling with OCB in Study 2 but not in Study 1. The reason may be that relationship quality is more important for role modeling functions in the supervisor–subordinate condition than in the mentor-protégé condition. Employees actively establish informal mentoring relationships which may imply that mentors and protégés like each other or have common attributes. However, the relationship between supervisors and subordinates is formally assigned by the organization without any emotional foundation. Hence, relationship quality plays a relatively more critical role in supervisor–subordinate relationships. Finally, career support does not have main effects on OCB in Study 1 but have effects on OCBI in Study 2. Our first explanation is that we did not divide OCB into OCBI and OCBO in Study 1 which masked the effect of career support on OCBI. Another explanation is that Study 2 applied an 8-month longitudinal design that provided enough time for employees to digest what they had received and obtained obvious benefits from career functions. The results of this study make important contributions to the literature on mentoring and OCB in four ways. First, past research on mentoring and OCB ignored the multidimensionality of mentoring functions. This study found that role modeling received significantly relates to employees' OCB and that career support relates to subordinates' OCBI. Second, we reveal the significant moderating effects of relationship quality on the relationships of career support and role modeling received with OCB. As noted above, relationship quality is critical to variables with low levels of emotions involved. This finding may be extended to other work relationships such that relationship quality can positively moderate the relationship between emotion-absent variables and behavioral outcomes. Third, we uncover the negative results of receiving low levels of mentoring functions. Our study shows that protégés low in mentoring functions received perform less OCB than nonprotégés, drawing attention to the cost of mentoring. Finally, this study extends the scope of mentoring investigation in China by including unskilled workers to demonstrate that career support and role modeling received impact employees' OCB. Our findings can extend existing theories and empirical findings from a developed Western nation to a transition economy. We are also cognizant of the limitations associated with this research. First, the mentoring system in this study is informal. Second, our respondents were from manufacturing firms compared to the Western counterparts. It is necessary to test our hypotheses in a formal mentoring setting within various industries. Despite these limitations, the present study has demonstrated that career support and role modeling received play a key role in employees' OCB. Many studies show that mentoring functions facilitate employees' career success (Kram, 1985). The reciprocation from employees, however, has not been adequately addressed. If receiving mentoring functions has positive implications for employees' OCB, organizations will be more likely to promote mentoring.