ABSTRACT

Coaching and mentoring are powerful developmental interventions that have become increasingly prevalent in workplace contexts. An expansive and growing base of practitioner and academic literature on these two concepts exists across many fields such as business, nursing, and education suggesting their multidisciplinary nature (Cox 2012, Eby et al. 2007, Ghosh 2012, Haggard et al. 2011, Hezlett and Gibson 2005). These concepts began appearing in the literature in the 1950s, 1970s and 1980s respectively (Evered and Selman 1989, Hezlett and Gibson 2005). However, with regard to coaching, Cox (2012: 1) has acknowledged that “the research underpinning it is notably sparse.” Similarly, while knowledge on mentoring is maturing, “the literature on mentoring is still fairly young” (Hezlett and Gibson 2005: 447) and “workplace mentoring is a relatively new focus of study” (Allen et al. 2008).