Personality Predictors of Participation as a Mentor.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to focus on the personality characteristics of mentors.Design/methodology/approach – The five factor model of personality was used to examine relationships between personality and participation as a mentor. A sample of 194 practicing veterinarians were surveyed on the five factor model of personality and a scale assessing their participation as a mentor across junior professionals, interns and high school students.Findings – Results indicated that extroversion, conscientiousness, and openness to experience were positively correlated with participation as a mentor. Personality traits also explained significant variance in participation as a mentor after controlling for prior experience with a mentor. These results suggest that participation as a mentor could be influenced to some degree by personality. Mentoring involves active engagement in an environment requiring social, task, and idea‐related capabilities, thus individuals who are extroverted, conscientious, and o...

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