Politics Understanding and Networking Ability as a Function of Mentoring

Abstract

Some have suggested that mentoring in organizations tends to focus on “learning the ropes,” or understanding organizational politics. This process is believed to result in building greater political skill and networking ability. The authors examined the relationships among mentoring, politics understanding, and networking ability. It was proposed that individuals experiencing the mentoring process would report higher levels of knowledge regarding understanding organizational politics, leading to greater networking ability. Specifically, the hypothesis that politics understanding mediated the relationship between mentoring and networking ability was tested with mediation analysis. The results provided strong support for the hypothesized relationship, demonstrating full mediation. Two additional hypotheses proposed a test of the “political skill deficiency” hypothesis, that the mediated relationships between mentoring, politics understanding, and networking ability would be moderated by gender and ethnicity, such that mediation would occur for men and Caucasians but not women and minorities. The results supported these hypotheses. Study implications and directions for future research are discussed.