Research Article :
Retention of human
capital is an asset to any organization and as a result, mentoring and
retention has become an issue of importance for any organization. This study,
therefore, analyzed the effect of mentoring on military personnel retention in
Ethiopian military academies. Methodologically, the research approach is
quantitative and the design was descriptive and explanatory type of research, where
the population of the study is the protégés of military academies in Ethiopia.
The sampling method is probability and specifically stratified random sampling.
The data were collected using structured questionnaires. The researcher used
both descriptive and inferential statistics. The result of person correlation
revealed that mentoring has positive and significant relationship with
personnel retention in military academies. Furthermore, the results of
regression analysis indicated that mentoring has positive and significant
effect on personnel retention in the studied academies. It was found that
psychological mentoring has higher effect on military personnel retention than
career mentoring and role modeling. Findings of this study shows that providing
mentoring for military personnel is positively and significantly related to
higher psychological readiness, career development, and personnel retention. Military
academies are better to emphasize on psychological mentoring to enhance the
retention of military personnel. Human
resource is valuable and serves as the backbone of organizations in the
world. Employees are key resources that can be strategically placed for an
organization to attain competitive advantage. It is obvious that developing and
retaining the capabilities of employee is an important part of any institution.
Organizations can no longer expect to be competitive unless they inspire,
mentor and make them learn continuously. Thus this study aims to assess the
effects of mentoring on military personnel retention in Ethiopian military
context. Vijayalaxmi
(2012) stated that mentoring is one of the most researched topics in the world.
It has been used by various organizations and educational institutions for
career development and the development of specific skills for employees to make
them more efficient. Educational institutions are implementing mentoring
programs to groom the students and develop them in a more holistic manner. The business
world adopted the program in order to encourage the employees to take a more
proactive part in the career planning and help new entrant to acclimatize him
or herself to the new work environment.
According
to Jubilee et al. (2014), mentoring is defined as the process of developing and
maintaining intensive, lasting and sustainable developmental relationships
between senior and junior persons. This relationship has been shown to involve
career mentoring (e.g. coaching, protection, challenging assignments and
exposure) and psychological mentoring (e.g. friendship, counseling and
acceptance) and role-modeling functions for the protégés.
Chiboiwa
et al. (2010) specified that retention refers to the maintenance of employment
status by an organization for a considerable long period of time. The main
purpose of retention is to prevent competent employees from leaving the
organization as this could have adverse effects on productivity and service
delivery. Besides, Christopher et al. (2012) demonstrated that mentoring
fosters employees retention in part because the emotional bond established
between a mentor and a protégés may contribute to higher levels of employee
retention.
So
that, Mentoring operate through a dual pathways to influence military personnel
commitment by assisting in the transfer of professional knowledge while
simultaneously developing the high-quality interpersonal relationships that
strengthen a protégés commitment and retention to the organization.
Further,
Alethea & Ridwanah (2013) reveled that mentoring has positive effects for
mentees, mentors, and for organizations. Mentees experience career advancement
and increased confidence in the workplace. Mentors experience personal
satisfaction, collegiality, networking, career enhancement and organizations
improved efficiency, recruiting, employee socialization, and commitment
Therefore, any organization to be effective there is a need of timely assesses
mentoring effect that promote mentoring functions, while simultaneously
fostering a commitment to the organization that enhances employee retention.
Alexis
and Judith, (2013) has concluded that mentoring in the organization increases
employee commitment by offering space for dialogue and regular feedback. As a
result, mentoring creates clarity on various issues such as the importance of
ones role, job expectations and career advancement. And also enhances employees
communications and develops the quality of working relationships with peers,
leaders and subordinates. These factors contribute to improving team spirit and
ultimately leading to an increase in satisfaction, efficiency and personnel
commitment. According
to Ethiopian Army Human resource Field Manual (2011), military units have also
been engaged in mentoring relationship for the purpose of knowledge and experience
sharing, talent development, improvement of the personnels abilities,
efficiency and to enhance personnel retention, core value assimilation and
diversity enhancement. As far as the researcher observation is concerned
military units carry out mentoring practice without evaluating or measuring its
effect. And unfortunately the researcher could not access any research
conducted on the effect of mentoring on personnel retention in the context of
Ethiopian military units. Therefore,
research works need not to be saturated in areas where there are many duties as
far as there are no special and justifiable reasons to do so. These initiate
the interest on the researcher to study the effect of mentoring on military
academies.
In
line of this insight the researcher will assess the effect of mentoring
functions on personnel retention in Ethiopian military academies. Military
Academies are colleges and training centers which are found in Ethiopian
defense force training main department which were established between 2000
-2004. Major general Hayelom Araya military academy is located at Holeta town
west of Addiss Abbaba, Command and Staff College is found in Addis Ababa. The
mission of the military academies were to produce well qualified and capable
sub-units ,tactical, operational and strategic level leaders, for all defense
forces units by providing quality education and training and the academies have
700 military personnel and civil employees.
All
the officers who are found in the academies served as a mentor and their
followers are the protégé. In the military academies, mentoring programs are
segments of human capital development that have consistently and continuously
been implemented since the inauguration of the academies. The military
academies used mentoring practice to transfer knowledge, skill, experience and
behavior from senior officer to subordinates, to retain personnel, assimilation
of core value and diversity enhancement and it is long time practice in the
military academies (Ethiopian Army Human resource Field Manual, 2011).
Statement
of the Problem
Mentoring has become globally recognized for
its effect in leveraging personal and organizational development. It can thus
be a powerful tool if studied properly to encourage development and commitment
on all levels of employee (François, et al., 2014). According to Cheng et al.
(2014), the fundamental purposes of mentoring are to help attract, motivate,
develop and retain profita-ble talent while increasing efficiency. It is
goal-oriented, promotes professional and personal growth amongst participants
and it facilitates the sharing of knowledge, expertise, skills, insights and
experiences through dialog and collaborative learning. On the other hand,
Chronus (2014) mentioned that successful companies whether large or small, use
mentoring to tackle complex human resource challenges such as increasing
employee retention and improving workforce efficiency. In the same fashion,
Ethiopian military academies have also been engaged in mentoring practice for
the purpose of knowledge and experience sharing, improvement of career
development, enhancement of personnel retention, psychological
readiness and diversity enhancement (Ethiopian Army Regiment Field Manual, 2011).
However there is no study shows how mentoring is effective in the military
academies. David and John, (2014) conducted research on US Army officers; found
that serving under a high-performing mentor significantly increases the
likelihood that a junior officer protégé´ will be promoted early to the next
rank. The magnitude of the increase in promotion rates is large, representing a
29% increase in the average early promotion rate. Thus, early promotion in the
army increases commitment and personnel retention. In addition, Kenneth (2013),
a study on the effect of mentoring and turnover intentions in the united states
of American air force and found that those who receive mentoring from a senior
member of an organization would tend to experienced higher levels of
organizational commitment and lower level of turnover intention. Further,
Carla (2011) conducted a study on the effects of mentoring on job satisfaction
among military academicians and the findings suggest that faculty members with
mentors have higher levels of job satisfaction than faculty members without
mentors. Moreover, another study has been conducted by Angela (2013) on the
relationship between mentoring, job satisfaction and the retention of special
education teachers in Georgia and the finding indicated that mentoring
positively affects job satisfaction and retention of teachers. In addition,
Brad, Johnson and Gene, (2011) conducted research on formal mentoring in the
USA military and the findings conclude that formal mentoring brings significant
benefits to all those involved in the mentoring relationship, including the
organization. The mentee gains knowledge and wisdom about the organization knowledge,
learns faster, has increased self-confidence, career motivation, commitment and
retention. Besides, Ayşe et al. (2013) conducted a study on effect of mentoring
on organizational commitment, and job satisfaction in Turkey. The result
indicated that mentoring has a positive effect on employee commitment and job
satisfaction.
Another
study has been conducted by Catherine and Mike, (2014) on the role of mentoring
programs on the employee performance in public universities in Kenya and the
study established that mentorship programs play an important role in employee
performance and enhanced through knowledge transfer and career development.
Lastly, Knowles and Parsons, (2010) argued that mentoring is generally
accredited in a positive way and perceived as decent, however there was no
evidence on the effect of mentoring on employees behavior and attendance.
The above studies were conducted with in a
context of other countries. And unfortunately the researcher could not access
any research which is conducted in Ethiopia relating mentoring and retention in
general and particularly the mentoring functions (career mentoring,
psychological mentoring and role modeling) and personnel retention. So far the
conducted studies concentrated their scope on the effect of mentoring on
organizational commitment, job satisfaction, benefit, types, role, student and
teacher retention in academic institutions, success of mentoring program and
little studies conducted on the effect of mentoring on army turnover in other
countries and economic regions. Therefore, the lack of theoretical and
empirical evidence in our country was what initiated the researcher to
undertake this research.
General objective:
The
general objective of this study was to examine the effect of mentoring on
military personnel retention on military academies in Ethiopia. Specific objectives:
The
specific objectives of the study were: 1. To examine the relationship between mentoring
and personnel retention in military academies. 2. To evaluate the effect of career mentoring on personnel
retention in military academies 3. To analyze the effect of psychological
mentoring on personnel retention in military academies. 4. To examine the effect of role modeling on personnel
retention in military academies. In
order to successfully attain the objectives of this study the following
hypotheses were considered. Hypothesis 1
H0: Mentoring does
not correlate with retention in Ethiopia Military academies Hypothesis 2 H0: Career mentoring
does not influence retention in Ethiopian Military academies Hypothesis 3 H0: Psychological
mentoring does not influence retention in Ethiopian military academies Hypothesis 4 H0: Role modeling
does not influence retention in Ethiopian Military academies Delimitation of
the study: This
study was delimited to the effects of mentoring on military
personnel retention in military academies it was delimited in identifying what
are the effects of mentoring function in personnel retention and the study
covered 3 military academies. The researcher selected these three military
academies because of the mentoring practice which is continuously implemented
in the military academies.
Significance
of the study
This
research aimed to assesses the effect of mentoring on personnel retention in military
academies. Thus, key stakeholders may benefit. The study may help as a source
of reference and stepping stone for those researchers who need to make further
study on the area afterward. It may also contribute for the existing knowledge
about the effect of mentoring and fills the gap of theoretical and empirical
evidence in the country. This study will provide empirical information to the
commandants of military academies as well as human resource leaders about the
mentoring effect and employee retention. This may consistently help the
military units in formulating appropriate mentoring policies, making informed
decisions and adopting strategies that will enhance career mentoring,
psychological mentoring, role modeling and personnel retention. In turn save
unnecessary expenditure and avert the loss of human capital. This may benefit
the country in the provision of developing and retaining military professionals
by ensuring mentoring practice in the institutions. The study provides the
researcher the opportunity to gain deep knowledge on the effect of mentoring on
military personnel retention. It will enhance the practical knowledge of the
researcher through creating a link between the theoretical knowledge and what
is going on real life in the academies. Lastly the result of the study will
provide insights and information on the effect of mentoring on retention. Limitations
of the Study
This
study helps to recognize the effect of mentoring on personnel retention in
military academies in Ethiopia. Therefore, there are limitations on this study
which require further examination and additional research in the future. The
limitation of this study is that, it was carried out in military academies on
protégée. Hence, this may limit the ability of the research to generalize the
findings for other organizations. Finally, this study mainly employed
quantitative methods and may thus suffer from the shortcomings of such a
method. Possibly a combination of both quantitative and qualitative methods
could provide greater insights and provide different outcomes.
Operational
Definitions of terms The
terms used in the research are defined according to the current study context.
Career mentoring: it is career supports help the protégés enhance their career
success, and include exposure and visibility, coaching, protection and
challenging assignments (Bette, 2012). Commandant: it is the chief
officer in charge of military organization (Ethiopian Army Human resource Field
Manual (2011). Mentoring: is refers to a
term generally used to describe the relationship between less experienced
personnel, called protégé, and the more experienced officer known as a mentor
(Gina 2012). Military Academy: is a collage or
training center for training military officers (Ethiopian Army Company Field
Manual 2011). Personnel: is a military
person who works in the military (Ethiopian Army regiment Field Manual 2011). Personnel
retention: it indicates a military personnel intention to stay in the military
profession Ethiopian Army Human resource Field Manual 2011). Protégée: It refers to a
military person who is guided and supported by a more experienced military
officer or mentor (Rhay et al. 2010). Psychological
mentoring: it is the psychosocial supports serve to increase the protégés sense
of competence, identity and work-role effectiveness, including acceptance,
affirmation, counseling and friendship (Lee & Kim, 2011). Role
modeling: it refers to serving as a role modeling of appropriate attitudes,
values and behaviors for the protégés (Burk & Eby, 2010) Organization
of the Study
The
rest of the chapters are organized as follows: Chapter two encompasses the
review of related literature. Chapter three consists of research methodologies
and Chapter four deals with results and discussions are included. Finally,
chapter five presents summery, conclusions, and recommendations.
Chapter
two reviews literature that is relevant in this research. The chapter also
explores and gives more meaning to the theoretical foundations as well as
empirical issues underpinning the phenomena being studied. Specifically, it is
organized under three main sub-topics; theoretical review of mentoring,
empirical review and conceptual frame work of the study.
Mentoring
involves the development of a junior and inexperienced persons career
development, the providing of psychological support to and role modeling the
junior. It is also a key element of leadership development and employee
retention.
Mentoring
originated back in Greek times, during the reign of Homers the Odyssey. King
Odysseus, before leaving to fight in the Trojan War (a ten-year battle),
entrusted his older friend mentor to teach and counsel his son, Telemachus
(Bloomberg, 2014). Here the word mentor used in the meaning that refers to a
person who was interested to teach the king son and it was in this way that the
use of this word comes to practice. There
are various definitions that have attempted to clarify the concept of mentoring.
According to Haggard et al. (2011), mentoring is an interpersonal exchange
between a senior experienced person (mentor) and a less experienced junior
person (protégé) in which the mentor provides support, direction, and feedback
regarding career plans and personal development and frequent interaction
between the mentor and the protégé with a goal of enhancing the protégés
commitment and aiding in career advancement and retention.
Robin
and Timothy, (2015) found that no single definition of mentoring applies to all
settings, but that every discipline employs unique terms to describe this
helping developmental process within its own field. According to them mentoring
is a dyadic relationship in which an older, more experienced member of the
organization fosters the growth and development of a junior employee to a point
where he or she becomes a competent professional. On the other hand mentoring
is also viewed as a dynamic, developmental relationship between two individuals
based on trust and reciprocity, leading toward the enhancement of the junior
members psychological commitment growth and career advancement and toward
achieving mutual benefits for the mentor, mentee and organization. The
researcher will adopt the definition of mentoring provided by Leavitt (2011)
which defines mentoring as developmental and interpersonal relationship
occurring between a more knowledgeable and experienced individual (mentor)
acting as a teacher, counselor and Role modeling of a less experienced or
knowledgeable individual (protégé), sharing advice, knowledge, psychological
support and guidance and offering support and challenge in behalf of the
protégés personal and professional development.
Benefits of
mentoring:
Dawley et al. (2010) mentioned that mentoring refers to the mutually
interdependent, empathic, and empowering processes that create personal growth,
development, and enrich organizations, mentors and protégés commitment and
retention. The collaborative nature of mentoring develops individuals and
interpersonal links between individuals, which increases engagement and help
employees develop new skills and feel engaged within the organization. These
functions all lead to happier employees and a better retention rate for a
stronger and more effective organization. Benefit to the
organization: Mentoring
benefits to the organization are mostly related to the development of human
capital and retention. Mentoring helps employees to share knowledge and
experience, to get them motivated and enhance job performance and retention
rates. In addition, it enhances organizational commitment (CIPD, 2012). This is
achieved by providing a structured system to strengthen and affirm the
continuity of the organizational culture. Organizational culture provides
members with a common value base, with implicit knowledge of what can be
expected of them and what they can in turn expect from the organization.
Benefit to the
mentee: Mentoring
function through initiation and socialization has a number of positive effects
on protégés performance and retention. Mentoring functions are positively
associated with compensation, number of promotions, career satisfaction,
expectation for advancement, career commitment, high level of job satisfaction
and low turnover intention (Chester et al., 2013).
Benefit to mentor:
The
mentors also benefit from the mentoring relationship. Mentors in the mentoring
relationship can benefit in the following areas: they attain a higher level of
professional knowledge, widened collegial networks, and raised levels of job
motivation, improved competence and gaining of much more psychological support.
In return for the time and effort spent in providing support to protégés, they
gain positive outcomes such as career rejuvenation, personal recognition,
personal satisfaction, organizational reputation and an increase in knowledge
and power (Sheryn & Ye, 2011). Forms of
mentoring: According
to Weinberg and Lankau, (2011), the nature of mentoring relationship is
influenced by the degree of formality adopted by the mentoring program, which
in turn influences the degree of formality present in the mentoring
relationship and the researchers identified two forms of mentoring
relationships, namely formal mentoring and informal mentoring. Formal mentoring:
Formal
mentoring refers to a mentoring relationship where a third party (usually the
organization) authorities an agreement between a mentor and protégé , whereby
the protégé should trust the mentor to teach or counsel him/her in order for
the protégé to reach his/her full potential (Jones, 2012) some features of
formal mentoring programs include top management support , corporate mentoring
strategy, sensible mentor and protégé selection and matching processes,
comprehensive mentor and protégé orientation, clearly stated expectations and
responsibilities of the mentor and protégé and established duration and contact
frequency between the mentor and protégé.
Informal mentoring:
Informal
mentoring relationships develop spontaneously based on mutually perceived
competencies and interpersonal comfort. Informal mentoring is volitional and
there are no structured guidelines for directing the informal mentoring
relationship. Under
informal mentoring there are little or no interventions by the organization
other than an initial introduction (Germain, 2011). The major benefits of
informal mentoring to protégés and mentors are being involved in the mutual
selection and mutual adjustment throughout the relationship with the goals and
expectations evolving over time to adapt to the specific needs of the protégé.
Types
of mentoring
Even
if, the literature mostly only makes a distinction between informal and formal
mentoring, there are in fact five types of mentoring (Wilson, et al., 2012 and
pan et al, 2011), namely: Executive
mentoring: An informal relationship is established with
an executive or director (that may be retired or not). This can lead to the
protégé becoming more visible in top management Supervisor
mentoring:
The protégé boss (supervisor/ manager) becomes his/her mentor. This can lead to
more career advancement opportunities for the protégé. Diversity
mentoring: This
includes cross-cultural mentoring where a mentor and a protégé are from
different culture, cross – gender mentoring where a mentor and protégé are
different sexes. Peer
mentoring: The
mentor and protégé are on the same level in the organization and the
relationship is relatively informal and can lead to information sharing,
emotional support and in some cases, to close relationship. Hierarchical
mentoring: This
includes mentoring from higher grade which refers to the relationship between a
junior and senior in order to enhance the knowledge and experience of junior
person and from a lower grade which refers to a junior mentoring a senior
person on a subject about whom the junior recently gained experience. Stages
of mentoring Ensher
et al. (2010) and Wilson et al. (2012) presented that those successive stages
of mentoring relationship. And defined four distinct phases of mentoring,
namely initiation, cultivation, separation and redefinition. Initiation: A period of six
months to one year during which time the relationship gets started and begins
to have importance for both individuals. During this stage, the mentor provides
coaching; challenging work and visibility; and the protégé provides technical
assistance, respect and a desire and willingness to be coached. Cultivation:
A
Period of two to five years during which the number of career and psychosocial
functions provided by the mentor are increased to a maximum, During this stage,
both protégé and mentor become more emotionally linked. Separation:
A
period of six months to two years after a change in the structure and role of
the relationship (transfer, promotions) or in the emotional parts of the
relationship has taken place (feelings of independence, threat, betrayal).
There are limited opportunities for interaction. Redefinition:
An
indefinite period during which the relationship ends and takes on a more
peer-like friendship quality, the protégé develops a relationship with new
mentors. Functions
of mentoring
Function
of mentoring is defined as the sum of the career mentoring, psychological
mentoring, and role modeling functions as perceived by mentees in the mentoring
program. According to Gina (2012), mentors provide three main functions to
protégés, namely: Career mentoring, psychological mentoring and role modeling Career mentoring:
According
to Bette (2012), Career mentoring establishes the protégé as an independent,
successful professional. Career mentoring includes sponsorship,
exposure-and-visibility, coaching, protection and challenging assignments.
Career mentoring involves task-related aspects of work and positively linked to
more objective measures of success. Benefits of career mentoring include
extrinsic success factors such as compensation, promotion, and career mobility.
Mentors provide their mentee with career mentoring and opportunities for career
development. There exists a strong link between career support activities and
positive employee outcomes including affective organizational commitment, job
involvement, and reduced turnover intention.
Psychosocial
mentoring: Lee
and Kim, (2011) on their study mentioned that psychosocial mentoring addresses
those aspects of the relationship that enhance an individuals sense of
competence, identity, and effectiveness in a professional role. The benefits
associated with psychosocial mentoring include affective outcomes such as
affective organizational commitment or job involvement and lower turnover. Psychosocial
mentoring includes intrinsic functions such as acceptance, counseling, and
friendship because mentors provide their protégés with psychosocial support and
opportunities for development; they contribute to the general satisfaction of
protégés above and beyond the extrinsic rewards they can secure for their
protégés. Shim
and Rohrbaugh, (2011) stressed that the functions of psychosocial mentoring
represent a deeper, more intense mentoring relationship and often depend more
on relationship quality than on career function. Psychosocial mentoring may
enhance an individuals ability and effectiveness, help alleviate work-related
stress, evolve into a strong emotional bond between the mentor and the protégé,
and become a positive, gratifying interpersonal contact.
Role
modeling
Role
modeling is serving as a role model of appropriate attitudes, values and
behaviors for the protégés. Role modeling consists of the mentor demonstrating
appropriate behavior and knowledge, thus earning greater respect and
admiration. According to Burk and Eby, (2010), the mentor demonstrates valued
behavior, attitudes and skills that aid the mentee in achieving competence,
confidence and a professional identity. The mentors values, attitudes and
behaviors provide an example for the mentee, who in turn identifies with the
mentors desirable example and in turn respects and admires his/her mentor. In
terms of the organizational context, the mentor leads by example. Personnel
retention: According
to Ethiopian Army Human resource Field Manual (2011), personnel retention is
retain and developing military personnel to obtain a competitive advantage.
Retention of personnel is critically important in military units. Furthermore,
Ethiopian Army Regiment field Manual (2010) stated that the major reasons why
military personnel retention is important is due to the numerous negative
outcomes that are associated with turnover. The outcomes include high direct
and indirect financial costs; a decrease in combat readiness and
sustainability, a decrease in efficiency; the rendering of service and
standards; interruption in duty flow; loss of experience and expert knowledge; an
increase in administrative processes; a decline in the unit image; an
interruption in the internal and informal social liaison and communication
channels and an increased feeling of job dissatisfaction among the remaining
personnel.
The effect of
career mentoring on retention: Sheryn and Ye, (2011) conducted a study
on effects of mentoring programs on new teacher Retention in the University of
North Carolina USA and concludes that career support can significantly affect
individual retention and careers development. With both the mentor and the
person being mentored (mentee) benefiting from the relationship. On
the other hand that mentoring can be beneficial to the careers of the mentor
and the protégé while assisting the organization to achieve its mission. Alethea
and Ridwanah, (2013) Conducted study on researching the effect of student
mentoring in University of Central Lancashire UK. The research explored the
effect of career support function on student and the findings highlighted that
career support has a significant effect on the mentee regarding enhancing
confidence, self-esteem, skill development and engagement in pro-social
behavior. Furthermore, the study concludes that career support is powerful tool
to develop mentees knowledge and to retain for longer period of time in the
organization. According
to McGarry (2011), a study conducted on Strategic success on mentoring and army
succession planning on Canadian forces. The finding conclude that career
support brings significant benefits to all those involved in the mentoring
relationship, including the organization. The mentee gains knowledge and wisdom
about the organization, learns faster, has increased self-confidence, increased
career motivation and retention. Career support, contributes to mentee
professional development and has the chance to inspire and encourage the growth
of the mentee. Cheng
et al. (2014) conducted the research on the effect of mentoring functions in
connection with formal mentoring in Chinese military. The result of the study
indicated that career support benefits protégés by promoting positive work
attitudes and career success; furthermore, the results of the study showed that
the amount of formal mentoring provided is related positively to protégés
affective commitment levels and associated negatively with turnover intentions. Chan,
et al. (2012) conducted the study on employee satisfaction and its effects
toward loyalty in hotel industry in Malaysia. The result of the study indicated
that Career support can provide opportunity to employee gain experience and
trains employee on countless skills. Therefore, career support can increase in
employee chances for advancement, employee retention and can lead to a more
effective organization. This indicated that career support is a most important
determinant of employee retention. Mehta
et al. (2010) conducted the study on employee Loyalty towards organization: a
study of Academician in Nigeria. The result of the study indicated that the
best way to serve employee is through career support programs and it can help
increase in employees job satisfaction and feelings of empowerment in their
customer-facing roles. Besides, it also can reduce employee turnover and
increasing retention, loyalty, and profitability. Carver
et al. (2013) conducted a study on the role of mentorship in the Retention of
graduate Interns in South Africa and conclude that mentoring relationships
operate through a dual pathway to affect organizational retention by assisting
in the career support while simultaneously developing the high-quality
interpersonal relationships that strengthen a protégés commitment to an
organization. Mentoring has beneficial effects on protégés job satisfaction,
compensation, number of promotions, and intent to remain with an organization. The effect of
psychological mentoring on retention: Craig et al. (2012) conducted a study on
impact of career mentoring and psychosocial mentoring on affective
organizational commitment, job involvement, and turnover intention in USA. The
results indicated that psychosocial support had a stronger negative
relationship with turnover intention than did career support. This probably is
because of the emotional, relational, counseling, and problem-solving aspects
of successful psychosocial mentoring. Jae
et al. (2012) in their meta-analysis from USA, Japan and Korea comparing
mentored and non-mentored individuals found that mentored individuals reported
greater career satisfaction, organizational commitment, and expectations for
advancement. Protégés who received higher levels of psychological support reported
similar results as well as stronger intentions to remain with their
organizations and indicated greater self-esteem and lower work stress and
work-family conflict than no protégés. Venu
(2014) conducted a study on the influence of career and psychosocial support on
organizational commitment and employee retention in India. The study focused on
the relationships between career and psychosocial functions, the organizational
commitment and employee turnover. A
survey based methodology was used and the samples were 120 IT employees. The
researcher found that psychosocial mentoring had a stronger negative effect
with employee turnover than did career mentoring. This probably is because of
the emotional, relational, counseling, and problem-solving aspects of
successful psychosocial mentoring. Angela
(2013) conducted research on the relationship between mentoring functions, job
satisfaction and the retention of special education teachers Georgia. The
researcher adapted survey research method and stratified sampling technique.
The finding indicated that psychological support positively affects job
satisfaction and retention of teachers. Furthermore it provides mentees to meet
and share ideas with colleagues that can affect the intent to remain in the
profession. The effect of
Role modeling on retention: Weng et al. (2010) conducted a study on exploring
the effect of mentoring functions on job satisfaction and organizational
commitment of new nurses in Taiwan. Results explored that role modeling
functions have positive effects on the job satisfaction and organizational
commitment of new nurses. This implies that if the employee is committed to the
organization will stay for long period of time. Ayse
et al. (2013) in their research on effect of mentoring on organizational
commitment and job satisfaction of accounting finance academicians employed in
turkey. The result confirmed that role modeling had a positive and
statistically significant effect on organizational commitment and job
satisfaction of employee. Chun
et al. (2012) conducted a study on mentor and protégé outcomes in formal
mentoring relationships in Korea. The result indicated that the role-modeling
function promote perfect influence behavior on mentee through exemplary values
and achievements of the mentor, own beliefs and principles, displaying
self-sacrifice, and specifying the importance of having a strong sense of
purpose. Furthermore the result indicated that role-modeling functions can
positively influence retention and bolstering confidence of protégés to speak
freely without fear of making mistakes. Sekhosana
(2011) conducted study on mentoring functions and work-related outcomes in a
steel manufacturing industry in South Africa. The finding revealed that
role-modeling has positive, statistical and significant effect on job
satisfaction and affective commitment. However, role-model has a negative
effect to employee turnover. Effect of
mentoring on personnel retention: Hall et al (2009) conducted a study on
mentoring and turnover intentions in public accounting firms in Australia and the
finding reveled that mentoring generally leads to reduced turnover intentions
by providing career mentoring, psychological mentoring and role modeling. Furthermore,
Wasim (2013) conducted a study on impact of mentoring on employee retention in
service sector Pakistan and the finding stated that mentoring has a positive
impact on employee retention. On the other hand, Azman et al. (2009) conducted
a study on Mentoring program and its impact on individuals advancement in
Malaysian and the results have empirically confirmed that properly implemented
mentoring programs can lead to increased individuals advancement and retention
in the studied organization. From the above findings it implies that mentoring
has an effect on employee advancement and retention.
Conceptual
framework of the study
Conceptual
frameworks
of the study have three independent variables which are (career mentoring,
psychological mentoring and role modeling) and one dependent variable (personnel
retention). Research
Methodology
The
primary focus of this chapter is to provide an overview of the research
methodology used to answer the research problems. Hence, the research design,
sources of data, population, sampling techniques and sample, data collection
methods, reliability and validity, data processing and data analysis and ethical
consideration of confidentiality were discussed here as follows. Research
Design
The
aim of the study was to assess the effect of mentoring on personnel retention
in military academies in Ethiopia. In order to address the research hypotheses
and to achieve the objectives of this research, a quantitative research
approach was adopted and the study followed descriptive and explanatory
research design. The major purpose of descriptive research is to describe the
state of affairs, as it exists at present or it helps to describe the
characteristics of a phenomenon. According to Zikmund et al. (2010), the major
purpose of descriptive research is to describe characteristics of objects,
people, groups, organizations, or environments. And Explanatory design used to
determine and explain the relationship and effect between the independent
variables and dependent variable. According to Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill
(2009), explanatory research is about studying a situation or a problem in
order to explain the relationships between variables. Source
of Data
In
order to, achieve the objective of this study, relevant data were collected
from both primary and secondary sources. The primary sources include protégées
of the military academies in Ethiopia and secondary data source were articles,
journals and thesis related to the study. So as to develop conceptual frame
work the researcher used secondary data sources. Population,
sampling techniques and sample size
The
research was conducted to assess the effect of mentoring on personnel retention
in the military academies. The total population of the study was 200 protégés
that the study focused on. The researcher used the sample size determination
table developed by Israel, (2013), the appropriate sample size for population
of N=200 mentees n=134 and confidence level is = 0.05. Proportionate stratified
random sampling technique used in order to give proportional representation to
all selected academies, which form the sampling frame of the study. The
strata for this research consist of three (3) military academies. According to
Zikmund et al. (2010), stratified sampling reduces random sampling errors,
groups adequately represented when strata are combined and sample ensures that
the sample accurately reflect the population. The total sample size of each
stratum is shown with their respective population of the following academies. To
achieve the objective of this study primary data were collected. In order to
collect primary data questionnaire was used. Since the approach of the research
was quantitative, the data used were collected through structured close ended
and open ended questionnaire and rated on a likert scale of 1 (strongly
disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). Questionnaire is simple and quick to
administer and it helps to collect data from the respondents (Zikmund et al.,
2010). Reliability
and validity
Reliability: Reliability is
one of the major criteria for evaluating research instruments. According to
Lombard (2010), Coefficients of .90 or greater are nearly always acceptable,
.80 or greater is acceptable in most situations, and .70 may be appropriate in
some exploratory studies for some indices. The researchers in order, to measure
mentoring effect, 16 questions were adapted from (Christopher et al., 2012; Hu
et al., 2011 & Ayse et al., 2013). In addition, Employee retention 5
questions were adapted from Jane (2013). The instruments were continuously
tested by different researchers and their reliability test is above 0.90.
Furthermore, the researcher modified the adopted instruments to make them
suitable to assess the effect of mentoring in Ethiopian military context and
reexamined the reliability. Therefore, as shown in table 2 the reliability of
the whole items is 0.90 which means the whole items were reliable and
acceptable because as Lombard stated coefficients of 0.9 or greater are nearly
always acceptable. Validity: Validity on the
other hand, can be described as the extent to which the instrument measures
what it purports to measure. According to Faux (2010), validity determines
whether the research truly measures that which it was intended to measure. Thus
validity measures how truthful the research results are or the extent to which
scores truly reflect the underlying variable of interest. The instruments that
the researcher used were continuously checked for the content and face validity
by the researchers who have conducted researches concerning mentoring
questionnaire by (Christopher et al., 2012; Hu et al., 2011 & Ayse et al.,
2013) and retention questionnaire by Jane (2013). After the modification, the
questionnaire was given to supervisors and experts to ensure refinement and
content validity. Data
Analysis Methods
The
collected data were checked for completeness, edited, transcribing the coded
data from questionnaire in to computer and coded in to the statistical package
for social science (SPSS) version 20. And then Descriptive and inferential
statistics were applied. Descriptive
statistics like frequency, percentage and ratio which includes the means and
standard deviation were used to analyze the demographic characteristics of the
respondents and the response variation of the study. The
researcher used the Pearson correlation coefficient to measure the degree of
relationship between independent and dependent variables. In this research, all
the independent variables (career mentoring, psychological mentoring and role
modeling) and dependent variable (personnel retention) were correlated. Thus,
the researcher was used Pearson Correlation analysis to measure the
relationship of independent variable and dependent variable. According to
Sekaran and Bougie, (2010), a correlation coefficient, r, is a number between
-1 and +1 that used to measure the degree of relationship between in dependent
variable and dependent variable. The
higher value of the correlation coefficient, the stronger the level of
relationship between two variables. A positive value for the correlation
coefficient indicates a positive relationship. Therefore, a negative value for
the correlation coefficient indicates a negative relationship. The
researcher used multiple regression analysis to assess the effect of the
independent variable on dependent variables. Model
specification
Multiple
regressions were calculated using the proposed formula to study the effect of
independent variables (career mentoring, psychological mentoring and role
modeling) and dependent variable (retention). Since there are three independent
variables in this study the multiple regression model was as follows: To view the equations visit PDF
Ethical
consideration of confidentiality The
researcher addressed ethical consideration of confidentiality and privacy. The
researcher used a careful and conscious effort at all times to sustain this
promise. The researcher promised to all those who selected as respondents that
their names should not be revealed in the questionnaire and analysis of data.
In order to ensure the involvement of the respondents to give their responses
genuinely with interest they have been provided a verbal and written
description of the study and they were willing to participate in the study and
all participants responses were confidential. All assistance, collaboration of
others and sources from which information was drawn is acknowledged. Finally,
the researcher will give a copy of the final report to the military academies. This chapter presents the result of the study based on the findings using descriptive and inferential statistics. The results are presented in the form of tables and pie chart. It starts with the response rate, personal characteristics of the sample, and provides findings according to the objectives of study: One hundred and thirty four respondents were selected out of the total target population of 200 for the survey and hence the same numbers of questionnaires were distributed. However, 124 questionnaires were returned and out of those 10 questionnaires were poorly filled and also 9 questionnaires were not given back thus in all a total number of 115 questionnaires were used and this represents 92.5%. The response rate of 92.5% was thought adequate for both the analysis and interpretation of the data and hence used in that regard. Educational back ground of the respondents: Details about the education levels of respondents were obtained as presented in the figure below. Table 3 revels that those respondents who have got first degree were 59.1% and those who were the holders of college diploma and second degree were 20.9% and 16.3% respectively and the remaining 3.5% were medical doctors. Data on Service period of respondents: The respondents years of service were deemed important to evaluate the level of experience the respondents have in the military academies. Details from the survey are given as shown on the table below. According to the above figure 2 it is evident that majority of the respondents have served in the military above 10 years were 59.1% and those who have served in the military between 6-10 years at 32.2%. Rank description of the respondents: The study sought and obtained details about the rank held by the respondents in the academies for purposes of understanding their role in the variables of study. Details of the respondents and their ranks are shown in below. The analysis results from the table indicated that majority of respondents in this study were Noncommissioned officers (75), followed by line officers (30) and private soldiers (10). These represent 65.2%, 26.1 and 8.7% respectively. From the above description, it can be revealed that the majority of the respondents in this study are those directly responsible for or directly involved in the implementation of mentoring System. Duration of mentoring relationship: The respondents length of mentoring relation was believed vital to assess the effect of mentoring effect on the respondents and in the military academies. Results from the respondents are shown on the table below. Descriptive Statistics Based on the above table, the mean and standard deviation for each of the predictor variables are as follows: Career support (μ=3.02, =0.74), Psychological support (μ=3.9, =0.86), and Role model (μ=3.3, =1.12). Besides, the criterion variable (Military personnel Retention) demonstrates a mean of 3.56 and a standard deviation of 1.24.Effect of Mentoring on Military Personnel Retention
Abstract
Full-Text
Introduction
Background
of the Study
Objectives
of the Study
Hypotheses
of the Study
Literature
Review
Definition
and concepts of mentoring
Empirical
findings
Figure 1: Conceptual framework illustrating the effect of mentoring on personnel retention.
According
to Edwin and Keith, (2014), mentors can serve three general types of mentoring
functions: career mentoring, psychosocial mentoring and role modeling. Career
supports help the protégés enhance their career success, and include exposure
and visibility, coaching, protection and challenging assignments. Psychosocial
supports serve to increase the protégés sense of competence, identity and
work-role effectiveness, including acceptance, affirmation, counseling and
friendship. Role modeling includes serving as a role modeling of appropriate
attitudes, values and behaviors for the protégés. The dependent variable for
this study was personnel retention. It indicates a military personnel intention
to stay in the military profession. Jane
(2013) stated that retention is to keep that personnel who will help the
military units, remain competitive to competitors on other hand, when military
personnel leave, the organization will loss various things. The turnover is
high so the cost of turnover (including hiring costs, training costs and
efficiency loss) is high, when the military personnel leave, valuable knowledge
about the military unit, current and past experience will go with him, military
units must pay much time and resource has been spent on the employee in
expectation of a future return. The
loss of knowledge through voluntary turnover can negatively affect military
unit and growth; thus, retention of military personnel has become more
important to safeguard the country from external threat. Thus the above
conceptual frame works depict that mentoring provides an encouraging
environment through ongoing interactions, coaching, counseling, psychological
support and role modeling that facilitates progression within the military
units. Therefore it has been found to influence employee retention because it
helps establish an organizational culture that is attractive to the top talent
demanding for growth opportunities and it is a tangible way to show military
personals they are valued and that the military units future includes them.
Table 1: Sample size description.Data
Collection methods
Table 2: Previous and current reliability test.
The
result from above table indicated that the items are reliable and consistent to
measure the effect of mentoring on military personnel retention in the military
academies.Results and Discussions
Introduction
Response Rates
Respondent Demographic Profile
Table 3: Educational back ground of the respondents.
Figure 2: Service period of respondents.
Table 4: Rank held by the respondents.
Table 5: Duration of mentoring relationship.
According to the above table, majority of the respondents 68% have been mentored in the military academies above 10 years and those who have been mentored for between 5-9 years and 32.2%, below 5 years 8.7% respectively.
Table 6: Descriptive statistics of independent and dependent variables.
The inferential analyses include the Pearson coefficient correlation and multiple regression analysis to show the relation and effect of independent variables on dependent variable as shown below.
Pearson Coefficient Correlation: The researcher used Pearson coefficient correlation analysis to examine the degree of relationship between two variables. Mentoring and dependent variable (Personnel Retention).
Relationship between mentoring and personnel retention: Hypothesis 1 H0: Mentoring does not correlate with retention in Ethiopia Military academies
Pearson correlation analysis was applied to assess whether mentoring in the academies related with personnel retention. The result of the study revealed that mentoring is positively correlated with personnel retention. Table 6, describes that mentoring was positively and significantly related to personnel retention (r = 0.746, p < 0.001) at 0.01 significance level. Therefore H0 was rejected since a positive significant relationship exists. This implies that better participation in mentoring leads to higher personnel retention in military academies.
Table 7: Correlation of mentoring and personnel retention.
Correlation between independent variables and personnel retention: The researcher tests whether there is any relationship between independent variables and personnel retention and table 7 shows that there is a significant positive relationship between independent variables and personnel retention. Specifically, there is significant positive correlation between career mentoring and personnel retention (r = 0.582, p < 0.001). Moreover, there is a strong significant positive correlation between psychological mentoring and personnel retention(r = 0.611, p < 0.001). Similarly role modeling and personnel retention are significantly positively correlated (r = 0.579, p < 0.001). Lastly, the table shows strong significant positive relationship between mentoring and personnel retention.
Table 8: Correlations between independent variables and personnel retention.
Multiple Regression Analysis: The researcher used Multiple Regression Analysis to assess the effects of mentoring (Career support, Psychological Support and Role model) and dependent variable (Personnel Retention) in military academies. According to (Cooper & Schindler, 2008; Zikmund et al., 2010), before a parametric test assumptions of parametric test must be adhered. In line of the assumptions preliminary analyses were performed to ensure no violation of the assumptions and the result indicates that sample size of the study was in line with N˃=50+8×m formula and samples were selected randomly from the population. In addition, the test result of Skewness and Kurtosis indicates the result is below 0.2 and 0.3 it shows that the data is approximately normal. Further the independent variables are not correlate highly with each other, r value of all independent variables are below 0.7. Moreover, the tolerance level of variables is greater than .10 and the variance inflation factors (VIF) is less than 5.0 In this study there is no a value that is extreme for one variable and the combination are logical. Lastly, the data was transformed to factor score.
Table 9: Multiple Regression Analysis.
Effect of career mentoring on personnel retention in military academies: Career mentoring includes sponsorship, exposure-and-visibility, coaching, protection and challenging assignments. It provides strong link between career support activities and positive employee outcomes including affective organizational commitment and reduced turnover intention.
Career mentoring; Psychological mentoring; Role modeling; Personnel retention.
