Toward a multi-level framework of entrepreneurial mentoring: insights from a systematic review

Entrepreneurial mentoring (EM) has received growing attention, but the literature remains uneven in how it connects mentoring conditions, interactions, actors, and outcomes across levels. This paper presents a systematic review of 84 empirical studies on entrepreneurial mentoring. Using inductive qualitative content analysis, we synthesize how entrepreneurial mentoring has been studied and linked to outcomes. The review shows that existing research has moved beyond a narrow dyadic view, but the links among levels, actors, outcomes, and contexts remain under-specified. Building on these findings, we propose a multi-level framework that interprets entrepreneurial mentoring across individual and dyadic, venture, support organization, and macro levels. The framework clarifies how mentoring processes may become outcomes, how outcomes may be interpreted across levels, and how they may feed back into later mentoring and support practices. We then develop a future research agenda focused on levels, actors, outcome translation, context, and evidence.