Communicating in Mentoring Relationships: A Theory for Enactment

The theory explicated herein postulates that communication is central to the initiation, maintenance, and repair of mentoring relationships. The initiation of mentoring is likened to the initiation of friendships and love relationships in terms of communicating appropriate relational expectations. Because the mentor has the most power in a mentoring relationship, the protégé is anticipated to direct more communicative attempts toward initiating, maintaining, and repairing the relationship than the mentor. Protégées are proposed to be more likely than males to use communicative strategies in achieving their mentoring goals. Mentors are proposed to use communication to initiate, maintain, and repair mentoring relationships if they are invested in the success of their protégés.