The Development and Validation of the Mentoring Expectations Congruency Scale (MECS)

A psychometrically valid measure of perceived mentoring expectations congruency between a mentor and protégé in a mentoring relationship was developed. Using a scale created with a panel of experts and tested with two professional cohorts, exploratory factor analysis led to the identification of a reliably strong, one-dimension, four-item instrument - the Mentoring Expectations Congruency Scale (MECS). Evidence of convergent, discriminant and predictive validity was demonstrated. While controlling for race, mentoring expectations congruency was positively related to relationship quality. Also, participants who had experienced mentoring training prior to the reported mentoring relationship reported significantly higher levels of mentoring expectations congruency, than those who had not experienced mentoring training prior to the mentoring relationship. Results provide support for Mentoring Schema Theory (Ragins & Verbos, 2007) and uncover potential relational processes underlying the relationship found between high quality training and relationship quality by Allen, Eby and Lentz (2006).