1. ¹Cameron University, Lawton, USA
2. ²Department of Management, College of Business, Bowling Green State University, USA
3. ³State University of New York at Old Westbury, Old Westbury, USA

Correspondence: SM Carraher, Cameron University, 2800 West Gore Blvd, Lawton, OK 73505, USA. Tel: +1 580 581 2367; Fax: +1 580 581 2253; E-mail: scarraher@cameron.edu

Received 9 June 2006; Revised 21 June 2007; Accepted 10 September 2007; Published online 26 June 2008.

Abstract

There has long been an interest in the effects of mentors on protégé career outcomes, and with scholars now beginning to examine mentoring across national boundaries. Using survey information as well as company records for 299 expatriates (163 men, 136 women) in 10 countries, we examined the impact of home- and host-country mentors upon expatriate effectiveness. We found that having a host-country mentor had a significant positive effect on the expatriate's organizational knowledge, organizational knowledge-sharing, job performance, promotability, and perceptions of teamwork. Having a home-country mentor had a significant positive effect only on organizational knowledge, job performance, and promotability. Surprisingly, our results revealed that having a home-country mentor had a significant but negative effect on the expatriate's organization identification and job satisfaction. Contrary to the literature, neither type of mentoring had a significant effect on job tension. Implications for practice as well as future research are detailed.