Work-family Focused Mentoring and Mentee’s Organizational Citizenship Behavior: The Role of Perceived Organizational Support

Abstract

Despite the growing body of research examining the impact of mentoring on mentees' work behavior, there has been a notable gap in exploring the role of mentoring at the work-family interface. Our study sought to investigate whether work-family focused mentoring uniquely contributes to mentees' behaviors. In particular, we assessed the effects of work-family focused mentoring on organizational citizenship behavior, taking into account general mentoring functions. Furthermore, our study aimed to uncover the underlying mechanism connecting work-family focused mentoring with mentees' organizational citizenship behavior. Drawing on social exchange theory, we examined the mediating role of perceived organizational support (POS) in this relationship. By analyzing data from 237 mentor-mentee pairs across various organizations in China, we discovered that POS indeed mediated the association between work-family focused mentoring and mentees' organizational citizenship behavior. This study offers valuable insights and implications for future research and practice in this area.