Page 4 - Thesis

Study : Scale development Definition of ethics-related mentoring

2) Scale development study: The Ethics-related functions are those aspects of the men-
data collection took place from January to July toring relationship that enhance clarity of one’s value
system, and ethical decision-making and behaviour in
2016. The initial 40 items were included in a professional contexts.
survey which was administered to a sample of
114 protégés, located in Germany, who were Ethics-related functions are possible because of the
currently or within the last three years in a mentor’s reputation for
formal or informal mentoring relationship. • being open, honest, and trustworthy;
Both exploratory factor analysis and confirma- • having clear personal values and moral principles in
tory factor analysis were used to finalise the place;
scale items, as well as to confirm its factor • making fair and balanced choices;
structure, and establish reliability. • showing strong concern for business ethics; and
• promoting long-term growth rather than short-term
goals.
It is important to note that the sample size did
not meet Hinkin’s (1998) recommendation for The mutually trusting relationship enables the mentor
scale development (i.e., a minimum of 150 to provide ethical role modelling and ethical guidance and
participants). However, statistical arrange- to show concern for the protégé in order to help the
ments were made. We thus believe that this protégé to reflect on their personal values and moral
principles, and to make principled and fair decisions in
sample allowed for testing the first research their professional lives.
question and the generalisability of the
ethics-related mentoring scale.

The results find support for the reliability and
validity of the newly developed measure,
which consists of three distinct dimensions,
i.e., ethical role modelling (5 items), ethical
guidance (8 items), and concern for protégé (4
items). We follow a definition of ethics-related
mentoring (see right column).

Conclusion
Protégé perceptions of ethics-related mento-
ring represents a multi-dimensional construct
that is conceptually distinct from existing
mentoring functions (i.e., career-related men-
toring, psychosocial mentoring, and role mod-
elling).

In study 2, we replicated the scale develop-
ment process to assure the construct validity
of the new scale.