Designing and validating the organizational mentoring model in the higher education system: A structural-interpretive approach

Organizational mentoring is one of the basic concepts of management, which recently has been noticed both scientifically and practically. The purpose of this study is to design and validate an organizational mentoring model in higher education system of Iran with a mixed method approach. This study is a cross-sectional research from time dimension. We used a sample survey questionnaire for data collection. In the first part of the research, we applied a meta synthesis approach to identify the main and sub-components of the research. In order to present the model, the structural-interpretive modeling method and MICMAC software were used. We used   the partial least squares technique with Smart PLS software to validate the model. The statistical population in model designing part composed of 11 experts and professors who were selected via an improbable method   and for model validation, 384 experts were randomly selected from the country’s higher education staff. The results show that the organizational mentoring system in higher education as the underlying factor of the model affects the competency of mentors. The competence of mentors affects their activities, executive actions and the quality of relationships between mentor and disciple. These factors also influence the mentoring culture of the higher education system and ultimately promote mentoring support and behaviors.