Encounters in social cyberspace: e‐mentoring for professional women

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the barriers facing women aiming to progress in their careers, or return to work following a career break, and evaluate the effects of an innovatory e‐mentoring scheme designed to overcome such obstacles and promote career development.

Design/methodology/approach

An online community of practice was formed for professional women in four UK regions. A survey of the career barriers they experienced was carried out and 122 participants were matched using psychological profiling and computer processing. The e‐mentoring process and participants' development was evaluated by means of pre‐, mid‐, and post‐mentoring evaluation questionnaires.

Findings

Mentees showed improvements in many key employability skills. For example, their ability to identify their weaknesses and ways to develop professionally improved substantially, as did their networking skills and ability to identify their strengths. Mentors also indicated that they had experienced development, for example, greater self‐awareness, increased confidence, improved reflective skills, and development of online skills. A large proportion of participants viewed mentoring as a fundamental aid to women's development. The majority felt that electronic communication was effective in facilitating this mentoring.

Practical implications

The e‐mentoring programme which has been developed may be transferred to a range of other target groups. Matching mentees and mentors is one of the key challenges in e‐mentoring design: an innovative system was designed which was able to provide personalised matching for each mentee.

Originality/value

E‐mentoring is still relatively under‐researched, particularly from a European perspective. This paper provides evidence for the benefits of e‐mentoring in the promotion of gender equality.

Citation

Headlam‐Wells, J., Craig, J. and Gosland, J. (2006), "Encounters in social cyberspace: e‐mentoring for professional women", Women in Management Review, Vol. 21 No. 6, pp. 483-499. https://doi.org/10.1108/09649420610683471