Mentoring and work attitudes among nurses: the moderator roles of gender and social support

Abstract

This study examined the relationships of mentoring and satisfaction with mentoring with work attitudes of nurses and the moderating roles of gender and social support in the relationships. Questionnaires were used to collect data on mentoring, satisfaction with mentoring, social support (from friends, family, professional association members, co-workers and supervisors) work attitudes, (job involvement, job satisfaction, organizational commitment) and demographic factors from 470 nurses (males =230, females = 240) from five states in Southwestern Nigeria. Data analysis included regressing work attitudes on mentoring, satisfaction with mentoring, social support and gender. Results revealed that mentoring, satisfaction with mentoring and social support predicted work attitudes and social support moderated the relationships but gender did not. The relationships were stronger for nurses who scored high on social support than for nurses who scored low on social support. The implication of the findings is that mentoring programmes should be developed by counselling and personnel psychologists for work organizations and these should be complemented with social support from family members, friends, and co-workers, professional association members and supervisors to improve the nurses’ work attitudes.