Formal Mentoring Programs in Education and Other Professions: A Review of the Literature

By L. Ehrich, B. Hansford, L. Tennent. 2004

624 citations recorded by the source corpus.

The sheer volume of literature on mentoring across a variety of disciplines is an indication of the high profile it has been afforded in recent years. This article draws on a structured analysis of more than 300 research-based articles on mentoring across three discipline areas in an attempt to make more valid inferences about the nature and outcomes of mentoring. It begins by reporting on the findings compiled from a database of research articles from educational contexts. These research-based articles are examined to determine the positive and more problematic outcomes of mentoring for the mentor, mentee, and the organization. A discussion of the findings from two other databases, namely, 151 research-based articles from business contexts and 82 articles from medical contexts, is provided, and commonalities across the three databases are highlighted. The article concludes with a discussion of key issues that administrators responsible for establishing mentoring programs should consider to maximize the experience of mentoring for all stakeholders.

Subfields: Social Psychology

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/3b6e17b3a777255d40ce866f39bb3c7a532481c8

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In Social Psychology

Citations in the corpus

‘Overworked and underappreciated’: special education teachers describe stress and attrition (2020, background): “Administrators should implement mentoring programs in their schools and remain actively involved to ensure that the mentoring program is successful (Ehrich, Hansford, and Tennent 2004).”
Implementation and evaluation of a formal academic-peer-mentoring programme in higher education (2016, background): “Ehrich et al. (2004) propose that mentoring programmes in higher education support students with their transition into the college/university environment.”
Looking for Professor Right: mentee selection of mentors in a formal mentoring program (2011, background): “In their review of mentoring within the fields of education, business, and medicine, Ehrich et al. (2004) found that “professional expertise and / or personality mismatch” was one of two most frequently cited problems with mentoring relationships.”
Institution-wide peer mentoring: Benefits for mentors (2012, background): “Mentors working in different contexts have reported that reflection on this role leads to new understandings of the self and one’s profession (Ehrich et al., 2004; Gilles & Wilson, 2004).”
Benefits of Peer Mentoring to Mentors, Female Mentees and Higher Education Institutions (2016, methodology): “Moreover, the results resonate with the findings of Dougherty and Dreher (2007), Ehrich et al. (2004), Hart (2009), Nick et al. (2012) and Smith and Zsohar (2007), who identified characteristics and benefits of mentoring, which are consistent with the benefits to mentors, mentees, and institutions…”
A Systematic Review of Qualitative Research on the Meaning and Characteristics of Mentoring in Academic Medicine (2009, background): “based on assumptions about the meaning and effectiveness of mentoring.(5,9) Expert panels have made attempts to clarify the concept of mentoring in academic medicine,(10,11) and authors have compiled narrative literature reviews or offered personal views(15) on the desirable characteristics of mento”
Mentoring circles in higher education (2009, background): “Institution‐wide mentoring programs have struggled with obtaining sufficient mentors (Angelique, Kyle, & Taylor, 2002 ) and in at least three disciplines (education, business and medicine) the lack of time to meet with a mentor is problematic (Ehrich, Hansford, & Tennent, 2004 ).”
A taxonomy of the characteristics of student peer mentors in higher education: findings from a literature review (2007, background): “Ehrich et al. (2004) note that mentees are adversely affected when their mentor fails to show interest.”
Show me the money! An empirical analysis of mentoring outcomes for women in academia (2007, background): “Ehrich et al. (2004) examined reports of mentoring schemes in educational, business and medical contexts, and found that the most frequently cited positive outcomes for mentees were support, empathy, encouragement, contact with others, career satisfaction, motivation and promotion.”