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Effects of mentoring on customer orientation: the moderating role of gender
Author(s) -
Kwan Ho Kwong,
Yim Frederick Hongkit,
Zhou Xia
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
asia pacific journal of human resources
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.825
H-Index - 33
eISSN - 1744-7941
pISSN - 1038-4111
DOI - 10.1111/1744-7941.12029
Subject(s) - customer orientation , psychology , business , market orientation , orientation (vector space) , human resource management , human resources , moderation , marketing , social psychology , business administration , management , economics , geometry , mathematics
This study investigates the effects of mentoring on employees' customer orientation in a C hinese setting by focusing on the moderating role of gender. The results from a survey of 280 employees indicate that protégés have higher levels of customer orientation than non‐protégés. Moreover, protégés who receive higher levels of career and psychosocial support exhibit higher levels of customer orientation than those who receive lower levels of such support. The effects of the mentoring relationship and career support on customer orientation are stronger for women than for men. The findings are discussed in terms of the theoretical and practical implications for human resource management.