Reflecting on an Academic Career: Associations Between Past Mentoring Investments and Career Benefits.

Abstract

Receiving mentoring is positive associated with lasting career benefits for academic protégés; however, less is known about the connection to long-term career gains for mentors. In this study national sample of retired academics were surveyed to examine the associations between past mentoring behaviors and current evaluations of their careers. Participants (N=277) were on average 73.6 (SD=6.2) years old with 34.9 (SD=8.0) years of occupational tenure and 7.7 (SD=5.8) years post-retirement. Structural equation modeling results demonstrated that having more protégés (β=.19, p=.024) and engaging in more mentoring behaviors (β=.18, p=.027) were associated with objective career achievements. However, mentoring behaviors, and not the number of protégés, were linked to subjective career achievements (β=.33, p<.001). Interestingly, previous mentoring experiences were not related to career satisfaction. While prior research demonstrates that mentors experience short-term benefits from mentoring, the present study's findings suggest that mentors may also experience long-term objective and subjective career benefits.