Workplace mentoring relationships offer benefits like increased job satisfaction, higher compensation, and lower stress (Eby et al., 2013). Mentoring provides two main types of support: instrumental (task-related help) and psychosocial (encouragement, counselling). This research aims to understand what influences mentoring preferences and desired type of support. Specifically, I focused on deep-level similarity and workplace norms that relate to agency (i.e., competence) and communion (i.e., social harmony; Abele 2021).

Chapter 2 (Studies 1, 2, and 3) and 3 (Studies 4, 5, and 6) analysed if potential mentees want mentors similar to themselves on agency and communion, and if potential mentees prefer mentors who fit the perceived agentic and communal workplace norms. In Study 1 (N = 200), agency and communion were measured with a single index, and potential mentees did not want mentors similar to themselves but wanted mentors who fit the perceived workplace norms. In contrast, Studies 2 (N = 117; correlational), 3 (N = 150; experimental), 4 (N = 250; correlational), 5 (N = 265; experimental), and 6 (N = 134; experimental) showed that potential mentees prefer mentors similar to themselves when agency and communion were considered as distinct factors. Agentic and communal workplace norms, however, did not influence mentoring preferences. Additionally, Studies 4 and 5 showed that mentees do not want mentors who complement mentees’ lack of fit to the agentic and communal workplace norms, and Studies 4-6 indicated that women want more communion in mentors compared to men. Chapter 4 (Study 7; N = 270) analysed if deep-level similarity was associated with better support in real-life mentoring but found no support for this effect. Overall, these findings suggest that deep-level similarity on agentic and communal values is relevant to what potential mentees want in ideal mentors.