Abstract: This exploratory study examines the importance of mentor/mentee relationships on faculty development by measuring how social exchange between new faculty members (mentees) in information systems and their former dissertation chairs (mentors) relate to how quickly the new faculty members completed their doctoral program and the number of peer reviewed publications they produced in their first six years of academic employment. In addition, this study measures how gender and ethnicity relate to the strength of the social exchange between mentors and mentees. The results show a statistically significant relationship between social ties and the number of publications new faculty obtain in their early years of academic employment. The results also indicate that mixed gender pairs have higher social exchange in this context. This study has implications for shaping doctoral education by providing insight into the importance of social ties on the development and productivity of new faculty.

Keywords: Mentoring, Leader-member exchange, Doctoral education, Mentor, Mentee

Download this article: JISE - Volume 19 Number 3, Page 343.pdf

Recommended Citation: Ugrin, J. C., Odom, M. D., & Pearson, J. M. (2008). Exploring the Importance of Mentoring for New Scholars: A Social Exchange Perspective. Journal of Information Systems Education, 19(3), 343-350.