A Framework for Research and Practice: Relationship among Mentoring, Power Distance Orientation and Innovative Behavior

Abstract

It is the foundation to establish sustainable competition for enterprises that keep the ability to create and apply knowledge. As the value of knowledge is mainly instantiated in tacit knowledge, it is important for enterprises to increase the amount of tacit knowledge and apply it. Mentoring is one of typical models to implement knowledge socialization, which is given serious attention by scholars and entrepreneur. However, there is less research that takes cultural values into account when we discuss mentoring. Whether cultural values do influence the effect of implementing mentoring? In different countries, should we adjust measures to local conditions when enterprises implement mentoring? In the research, we theoretically discussed the relationship among mentoring, power distance orientation and innovative behavior, in which we also took psychological safety into account. Research results have indicated that mentoring is positively related to innovation behavior, in which perceived psychological safety plays a mediating role and power distance orientation plays a regulating role. What’ more, protégés’ power distance moderates the positive relationship between mentoring and innovation behavior in such a way that the relationship will be stronger for protégés who are lower rather than higher in power distance.