Factors of Small Business Mentoring and Practices

Abstract

Mentoring is essential when we consider the socio-economic profile of small business owners and the considerable rate of business failure. Entrepreneurs are independent as well as innovative by nature, and they may not like to discuss their confidential business issues with a third party. On the other hand, a mentor has to understand, help, support and improve overall aspects of the mentee’s business. Thus, mentoring entrepreneurs seems to be inherently contradictory. The function of the mentor and the mentoring process outcomes are not precisely understood. The argument ‘Mentoring is what a mentor does’ indicates the lack of clarity. This research uses a semi-structured interview and survey method to understand the mentoring process in practice. The perceptions and expectations of mentors and small business owners are analysed.

Findings indicate that mentors are more likely to underestimate the outcomes of the mentoring process compared to mentees. The appropriate experience and expertise of the mentor are considered more important in the mentoring process. There are no significant differences in the perceptions between mentors and business owners regarding mentoring contribution to marketing, finance and people management skills. Factor analysis for the 15 variables used in the scale suggests 6 factors such as capacity building, connect, chronemics, collaboration, concreteness and trust (5Cs and 1T) to be critical mentoring outcomes. The article contributes to small business owners, mentoring practitioners and funding agencies by clarifying the relationship among various factors involved in mentoring. The article also discusses the future agenda for research on small business mentoring.