Supervisory mentoring and newcomer innovation performance in the hospitality industry

Abstract In this study we argue that mentoring, as a “social learning process”, can assist employees to merge into the organization more rapidly. The purpose of this study is to explore the relationship between supervisory mentoring functions and newcomers’ innovation performance. To explore this relationship, the moderating effects of task autonomy and supervisor capability were tested. Data were collected from two sources, newcomers and supervisors employed in four and five star hotels in Taiwan. The findings reveal that supervisory mentoring functions have a significant positive impact on newcomer’s innovation. Furthermore, the study also finds that task autonomy and supervisor capability strengthen the relationship between supervisory mentoring functions and newcomer’s innovation performance. Our findings suggest that mentoring is a powerful strategy that can be used to encourage innovation and that innovation performance is enhanced when organizations develop mentoring processes and structures which facilitate the development of creativity, interaction, and communication between employees.