Gender equality in the support of junior researchers: Motivations for participating in a mentoring program

Mentoring is a higher education policy equality instrument for increasing the proportion of women in leadership positions in the long term. In this study, the motives and corresponding commitments for (planned) participation in a mentoring programme were examined by means of a quantitative online questionnaire (N=73). Based on Kram’s (1983, 1988) theory of mentoring functions, both career-oriented and psychosocial factors are relevant, which are complemented by the willingness to commit. Implications for the establishment and further development of targetgroup-specific mentoring programmes at universities are derived here.