Developing calling to reduce turnover intention through mentoring: a contextualized study in China

Purpose Drawing on social information processing theory and work-as-calling theory, this study explores the impact of mentoring within the Chinese context – which encompasses the roles of both mentors and senior mentees – on the calling and turnover intention of junior mentees in the hospitality industry. Design/methodology/approach Survey questionnaires were administered to collect 222 valid responses from frontline hotel employees in China. Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was adopted to test the hypotheses. We further conducted several post hoc interviews to gain a deeper understanding of the relationships examined. Findings Chinese mentoring positively affects mentees’ perceiving and living a calling, which in turn reduces their turnover intention. Junior mentees’ liking of their senior mentees further amplifies the negative effect of living a calling on their turnover intention. Originality/value This study enriches the literature on calling by exploring the antecedents of perceiving a calling and the boundary conditions that enhance the effect of living a calling on turnover intention. Additionally, our study highlights the unique aspect of Chinese mentorship as resembling a family-like relationship, a characteristic shaped by the pervasive influence of Confucianism in China, which enriches the existing literature on mentorship studies.