Formal Mentoring and Protégés’ Leadership Development: The Roles of Protégés’ Informal Mentoring Networks, Political Skill, and Gender

We seek to better understand how formal mentoring may impact protégés’ leadership development by arguing that protégés’ informal mentoring networks help explain the relationship between formal mentoring and two protégé leadership development outcomes: motivation to lead and promotability. We also argue that protégés’ political skill and gender serve as boundary conditions of these mediated relationships. Using 100 South Korean mentor-protégé dyads in four organizations across three points in time, we find that a higher level of formal mentoring is positively associated with the quality of protégés’ informal mentoring networks, which, in turn, is positively associated with protégés’ motivation to lead, but not protégés’ promotability. We also find that the relationship between a higher level of formal mentoring and the quality of protégés’ informal mentoring networks is strengthened when protégés have a higher level of political skill. In addition, we find that female protégés obtain more informal mentoring networking benefits from their formal mentors than male protégés. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Exploring cultural values in conflict management: a qualitative study of university heads of departments

Purpose

In seeking to understand the impact of culture on conflict management (CM), extant organisational management research has, for the most part, confined itself to using the one-dimensional collectivism/individualism model of Hofstede's cultural theory. The purpose of this present study is to extend this knowledge area by adopting the more comprehensive analysis of Hofstede's fourfold dimensional typology – power distance, individualism/collectivism, uncertainty avoidance and masculinity/femininity – as a conceptual lens to investigate how national culture impacts the interpersonal CM of those in leadership positions in higher education institutions. Specifically, this article explores the extent to which cultural values influence the CM practices of university heads of departments (HODs).

Design/methodology/approach

Adopting a qualitative approach, 36 interviews were conducted with heads of different departments across a variety of disciplines in selected Nigerian universities.

Findings

The study's results conceptualise how underlying cultural norms – promoting paternalism, servility and social relations – influence the conflict-handling strategies adopted by university HODs. It consequently emerged from the thematic analysis that in Nigeria, conflict-handling decisions are shaped by status-based dictates, a normative emphasis on communality, masculine hegemony and religious motivation – as opposed to Western cultures, where these benevolent and integrative values play a far smaller role.

Research limitations/implications

The study focussed on a small group of research subjects. Although the sample is not a sample that enables generalisation, the findings provide theoretical insights into how cultural ascendancy could frame conflict resolutions. This research is especially relevant as it runs in a culture significantly different from the ones that originally were investigated and in which managerial books and mainstream practices emerged and, thus, can contribute to challenge and enhance theory.

Originality/value

The study seeks to advance knowledge of the interface between culture and CM in a sub-Saharan African context where literature is scarce.

A Multilevel Contingency Model of Employee Ownership and Firm Productivity: The Moderating Roles of Industry Growth and Instability

Many studies have examined the relationship between employee ownership and firm productivity. However, research is lacking on how this relationship is strengthened or weakened by environmental characteristics. This is a critical oversight in the employee ownership literature because industry characteristics can significantly influence employees’ expected gains from their firm ownership. Thus, based on agency theory and expectancy theory, we develop a multilevel contingency model of employee ownership with industry growth and instability as boundary conditions. We test the proposed model with a sample of 573 firms in South Korea (Study 1: 1,415 firm years) and a sample of 892 firms in 28 European countries (Study 2: 4,768 firm years). In both studies, we find that employee ownership does not significantly contribute to firm productivity on its own. However, we find a significant three-way interaction effect of employee ownership, industry growth, and industry instability on firm productivity. Specifically, employee ownership is most effective at improving firm productivity when both industry growth and industry instability are high. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of the findings.