The Shadow of Negative Mentoring at the Workplace

This study explores the mediating role of negative affect between three negative mentoring experiences of protégés: (i) a mentor–protégé mismatch within the dyad; (ii) the mentor’s distancing behaviour; and (iii) the mentor’s work-related attitude, and one outcome of negative mentoring, namely, decline of organizational citizenship behaviour for the protégé. Drawing on affective events theory, it is suggested that negative mentoring experiences for the protégé may have far-reaching implications for the protégé and for the organization too.