The role of protege disability and competence in mentoring relationships

The diversity literature has long suggested that discrimination against minority groups at early career development stages hinders advancement opportunities. However, few of these studies have examined the disabled as a minority population. The current study examines the intentions of non-disabled mentors in the protg selection process. This 3 X 2 between subjects factorial design assessed protg disability type (visible, invisible, or no disability) and protgs actual competence level (high or moderate) in relation to participants willingness to mentor and perceived competence of protgs. Results revealed no significant differences in willingness to mentor and a sympathy effect or positive bias towards the disabled regarding perceptions of competence. Additional analyses suggest that participants paired with a disabled protg were more likely to request another applicant to mentor than those matched with a non-disabled protg. This study furthers the diversity literature in the area of mentoring. Implications and future research are discussed.