Turnover in public accounting firms is a critically important issue as firms seek to retain quality accounting personnel in the face of skilled labour shortages. Mentoring is one initiative that has been suggested as a means of reducing the high costs associated with employee turnover. However, prior accounting research examining the association between mentoring and turnover intentions has produced mixed results, which may be due, at least in part, to difficulties in operationalizing the mentoring construct. Drawing on recent management literature regarding organizational turnover intentions, we challenge the conventional view that mentoring generally leads to reduced turnover intentions, by testing a theoretical model that posits that different functions of mentoring have differing effects on turnover intentions. Specifically, we argue that while the psychosocial support function of mentoring can serve to reduce public accountants' turnover intentions, the career development function of mentoring has the potential to increase turnover intentions. Results support this conclusion.
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IntroductionIn recent years there has been considerable interest surrounding the development, operation and effects of mentoring relationships within public accounting firms (see, for example, Viator & Pasewark, 2005;Herbohn, 2004;Kaplan, Keinath & Walo, 2001). A mentoring relationship is an interpersonal exchange between a senior experienced colleague (the mentor) and a less-experienced junior colleague (the protégé) in which the mentor provides direction, support and feedback to the protégé regarding career plans and personal development (Russell & Adams, 1997;Kram, 1985). One of the strongest claims regarding mentoring relationships is that they assist public accounting firms in retaining employees (AICPA, 2007; Gregg, 1999). However, despite numerous studies, it is unclear whether and how mentoring relationships affect public accountants' organizational turnover intentions. 1 Simply having a mentor does not necessarily result in lower turnover intentions; some studies find a negative association between having a mentor and intentions to leave the accounting firm (Viator & Scandura, 1991;Scandura & Viator, 1994; Barker, Monks & Buckley, 1999), whereas others report no association (Viator, 2001;Herbohn, 2004). Studies focusing on the support provided by a mentor to a protégé also report mixed results. Some research finds that more career development and psychosocial support from a mentor is associated with lower turnover intentions (Herbohn, 2004; Barker et al., 1999), but other studies find no 1 Given the difficulties associated with obtaining data on actual turnover behaviour, we focus our analysis on organizational turnover intentions. Prior research shows that turnover intention is a valid and reliable indicator of subsequent turnover behaviour (Steel & Ovalle, 1984). 4 associations (Viator & Scandura, 1994). 2 We propose several explanations for these mixed findings.Most prior research has focused on differences in t...