The effects of formal mentoring on employee work motivation, organizational commitment and job performance

Examines the effects of a two‐year formal mentoring programme in a medium‐sized manufacturing company on the work motivation, organizational commitment and job performance of mentees. Single measures were obtained, for each mentor‐mentee pair, at the completion of the programme, from the 39 mentors and 39 mentees who remained. These measures included the pairs’ interaction opportunities; and the closeness of their relationship. At the same time, measures were obtained from mentees of their work motivation and organizational commitment. The performance of each mentee was given by ratings from their superiors. Significant relations were found between interaction opportunities and both motivation and commitment, and between relationship closeness and both these attitudes. Finds that the relations between the two mentoring variables and performance were both non‐significant. The results suggest that formal mentoring can improve employee attitudes without necessarily raising their performance, at least in the short term.