The Role of Mentoring in Protégés’ Subjective Well-Being
Although the benefits of mentoring for protégés’ career-related outcomes have been largely confirmed, little research has examined whether this benefit can extend to the protégés’ life domains outside of work. In this study, we investigate the impact of the extent of workplace mentoring support on protégés’ subjective well-being (SWB). Based on data that were collected from a two-wave survey of 253 protégés in ongoing mentoring programs in China, the results showed that the extent of the mentoring support was significantly related to the protégés’ SWB (i.e., satisfaction with life, positive affect, and negative affect) through their psychological safety. Furthermore, the perceived mentor status of protégés moderated the relationship between the extent of mentoring support and the protégés’ psychological safety, such that the relationship was stronger when the perceived mentor status was higher rather than lower. The theoretical and managerial implications of our findings are also discussed.