Keywords

Mentoring, professional identity, ocbs

Abstract

The purpose of the current study was to investigate the influence that academic major advisors and informal mentors can have on an individual's identification with a professional organization and their ensuing level of involvement in that professional organization. The present study is unique in that it is among the few to examine mentoring and OCBs in the context of a voluntary professional organization. Participants were 309 individuals with a doctoral degree who are members of the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology (SIOP), a large professional organization with 7,847 total members (in 2011). The specific type of OCB investigated in this study was voluntary service as a member of committees within the professional organization. Results indicated that individuals' identification with a particular professional organization was stronger if their academic advisor had engaged in greater OCBs within the organization (i.e., chaired a greater number of committees) and if they had one or more informal mentors who were also members of the same professional organization. Those with a greater number of informal mentors in addition to their academic mentor engaged in greater OCBs within the organization (i.e., participated as a member of more committees). Finally, those reporting at least one informal mentor in addition to their academic advisor engaged in greater OCBs within the organization if their informal mentors had engaged in a greater number of OCBs and when those multiple mentors were more balanced with regard to their to their professional setting (i.e., academia or practitioner). Implications for theory and practice will be discussed.

Notes

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Graduation Date

2012

Semester

Summer

Advisor

Smith-Jentsch, Kimberly

Degree

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)

College

College of Sciences

Department

Psychology

Format

application/pdf

Identifier

CFE0004501

URL

http://purl.fcla.edu/fcla/etd/CFE0004501

Language

English

Release Date

August 2012

Length of Campus-only Access

None

Access Status

Doctoral Dissertation (Open Access)

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Included in

Psychology Commons

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