Elaine Cox ✉ (Oxford Brookes University)

In this issue of IJEBCM we present eight peer reviewed, academic papers: there are three papers with a mentoring focus and five that concentrate on different coaching approaches or applied contexts. The papers demonstrate the research work being done across the world; not only in the UK, but also the USA, Denmark, and Germany.

The first mentoring paper is written by our colleague at Oxford Brookes University, Judie Gannon, and it examines the forms of mentoring Human Resource Management executives encourage in order to help socialise new managers in international industry. This qualitative study identifies ways in which mentoring is used formally. The results highlight the contribution made by mentoring as part of the recurring socialisation managers face when their companies require high levels of mobility.

Our second paper tackles the important issue of negative mentoring, looking in particular at how perceived mentor and protégé values affect negative mentoring but also their organisational commitment, job satisfaction and perceived career success. Marcy Young Illies, from Saint Cloud State University, Minnesota and Roni Reiter-Palmon, from University of Nebraska Omaha, found that protégés of mentors that were perceived to have self-enhancement values experienced more negative mentoring, while protégés with mentors perceived to have self-transcendence values experienced less negative mentoring.

The topic for the third paper is mentoring opportunities for women university presidents in the USA. Tania Carlson Reis from Gannon University and Marilyn Grady from University of Nebraska-Lincoln argue that women remain underrepresented in U.S. university presidential positions and explain how mentoring is used to support women in gaining access to those positions. Qualitative interviews revealed an interconnection between mentorship, informal relationships and opportunity, and also that participants received greater support from male mentors versus female mentors.

The fourth paper in this volume studies the experience of people who self-identify their character strengths through coaching. Alexandra Fouracres, working in Denmark, and Christian van Nieuwerburgh from the University of East London, UK, held semi-structured interviews following coaching interventions using strengths cards. Findings suggest that the lived experience of self-identifying strengths is complex and positive.

In their study of the effects and antecedents of solution-focused questions in coaching, Stefanie Jordan and Simone Kauffeld, both from the Technische Universität Braunschweig in Germany, investigated clients’ behavioural responses to coaches’ solution-focused questions (SFQ). Using a mixed methods design, these researchers applied longitudinal self-report and behavioural data for 23 coach-client dyads. Findings contribute to the improvement of coaching and training programmes by expanding our knowledge of micro level coaching processes.

In their quantitative research for paper six, entitled ‘What clients want: a conjoint analysis of precursors to coach selection’, Céline Rojon, from University of Edinburgh, Nicole Bode, from Universität Erfurt and Almuth McDowall from Birkbeck, University of London, investigated individual preferences for workplace coaching providers. Findings suggest that potential coachees favoured professionally trained coaches with four to ten years’ experience and with a similar background to themselves. Personal recommendations, existing client feedback and perceived competence were all predictive of potential coach selection.

Our seventh paper is written by Heather Noon and Christian van Nieuwerburgh from University of East London. In their research, the authors examine the experience of career decision-making for first-time mothers and the concomitant implications for coaches. Using the experience of six professional women and using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis, they identified the high-commitment behaviours underpinning female professional career identity; the effects of group norms, the cultural messages and employer practices impacting women’s decision-making and the solitary experience of establishing new narratives as a professional mother.

In our final paper, Micah Saviet from the University of Maryland Baltimore, USA, and Elizabeth Ahmann from Maryland University of Integrative Health, research the communication modalities in coaching for individuals with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Their mixed methods study surveyed 117 coaches who identified as ADHD coaches to explore the frequency of use and perceived effectiveness of varied communication modalities (in person, phone, video conferencing or a combination). Key themes were also identified in qualitative data, including focusing and distraction and managing time.