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...1999; Swap et al., 2001). Peer mentors can provide some of the same functions as traditional mentors, such as psychosocial support (e.g., talking, listening, expressing concern) and career- or job-related support (tangible assistance such as physical resources, one's time, advice, or knowledge that aids another in doing their jobs) (Kram, 1985; Young and Perrewe, 2004). Peer mentoring is an intentional one-on-one relationship between employees at the same or similar lateral level in the firm that involves a more experienced employee providing support and teaching new knowledge and skills to a less experienced employee (Ensher et al., 2001). Recent organizational trends, including downsizing, flattening hierarchies, and increased use of work teams, have reduced the number of senior managers in organizations available to be mentors. In this situation, newer employees may seek mentoring from experienced employees in their organization who are at the same level in the firm--a process called peer mentoring (Eby, 1997; Ensher et al., 2001).
Recent studies have examined information sharing through traditional mentoring relationships (e.g., Borredon and Ingham, 2005; Hezlett, 2005; Mullen and Noe, 1999). There is little research on the relationship between peer mentoring and knowledge sharing, although Eddy et al. (2005) examine a continuous learning environment as an antecedent to peer mentoring. The primary benefits of traditional mentoring relationships are typically career- or job-related support and psychosocial support. We would suggest that knowledge sharing is one of the primary benefits of the peer mentoring relationship (Eddy et al., 2005). The peer mentoring process is qualitatively different from traditional mentoring, and the primary difference is the level of experience and power that the mentors have. Traditional mentors are able to provide career advice, political support, access to inside information, opportunities for advances, etc. This qualitatively changes the nature of the relationship--both the content of what knowledge is shared and how that knowledge is shared. The purpose of this study is to provide an empirical test of whether peer mentoring facilitates organizational knowledge sharing and to explore whether employees can be trained to be more effective peer mentors.
CONCEPTUAL BACKGROUND AND HYPOTHESES
In knowledge-intensive firms, such as the software firm used in the present study, managers place a premium on technical competence, making job-related knowledge extremely valuable to employees and to the firm. Therefore, in the present study, we examine the sharing of job-related and technical knowledge in the peer mentoring relationship. Next we examine the strategic value of organizational knowledge before exploring how peer mentoring facilitates the sharing of knowledge between peer mentors and apprentices.
Organizational Knowledge and Peer Mentoring
Creating and sharing knowledge more effectively than competitors provides the possibility for creating competitive advantages (Boisot, 1998; Grant, 1996; Kogut and Zander, 1992; Teece, 1998). Organizational knowledge includes all the tacit and explicit knowledge that individuals possess about products, systems, and processes and the explicit knowledge codified in manuals, databases, and information systems. There are many processes that researchers have identified, but they tend to fall into one of three main categories: creating knowledge (March, 1991; Nonaka, 1994; Crossan et al., 1999), sharing knowledge (Grant, 1996; Nonaka, 1994; Szulanski, 1996) and exploiting knowledge (Boisot, 1998; March, 1991; Nonaka, 1994). There is a growing body of research on organizational knowledge examining important issues, including stocks and flows of knowledge (Bontis, 2009), absorptive capacity (Cohen and Levinthal, 1990), knowledge transfer and contingent workers (Matusik and Hill, 1998), and internal stickiness of knowledge (Szulanski, 1996). We examine the creation and sharing of knowledge in this study. In particular, we assess individuals' perceptions of knowledge creation and sharing behaviors in their teams and firm.
Considering the importance of organizational knowledge, we need to examine how peer mentoring impacts organizational knowledge. Peer mentoring is becoming increasingly common in organizations and, moreover, is receiving more attention from scholars because it may offer some unique advantages over traditional mentoring relationships (Allen et al., 1997; Eby, 1997; Eddy et al., 2005; Ensher et al., 2001). Peers can provide the same kinds of psychosocial and vocational support as traditional mentors, but they are uniquely qualified to provide job-related and technical knowledge (Eby, 1997; Ensher et al., 2001; Kram and Isabella, 1985; Young and Perrewe, 2004).
Peer mentoring provides a mechanism for sharing job-related knowledge (Allen et al., 1997, 1999; Eby, 1997; Eddy et al., 2005; Ensher et al., 2001). Knowledge workers may be with one firm for a short time or in one position within a firm for a short time, which results in relatively high turnover rates and creates a need for constantly training new employees and team members. Peer mentoring provides a valuable method for sharing knowledge when employees frequently move to new jobs, teams, or firms. Peer mentoring facilitates the sharing of knowledge from mentor to apprentice and from apprentice to mentor (Borredon and Ingham, 2005; Ensher et al., 2001; Kram, 1985; Young and Perrewe, 2000).
Much of the knowledge that peer mentors possess is tacit and learned from personal experience and from interacting with other employees. Most of the taken-for-granted knowledge of the peer mentor is not recorded in any database, procedure manual, or formal training program (Swap et al., 2001). The pace of change is so rapid in most jobs in a software firm that any formalized knowledge is quickly outdated. Therefore, these companies rely on their experienced employees to impart their knowledge to less experienced employees (Eby, 1997; Swap et al., 2001; Young and Perrewe, 2000).
Peer mentors engage in several social behaviors to share job-related knowledge, including 1) defining the peer mentoring relationship, 2) managing communication between the mentor and apprentice, 3) selecting and focusing on key information to be shared, 4) teaching to different learning styles when training, 5) assessing whether the apprentice is understanding the concepts in the training, 6) giving feedback on performance and goal attainment, and 7) developing a clear action plan for mentoring the apprentice (Eby, 1997; Kram and Isabella, 1985; Trautman, 1999). We refer to these social behaviors as "peer mentoring behaviors," and the extent to which individuals understand how to utilize these mentoring behaviors we refer to as "peer mentoring competence."
Next we examine the psychosocial processes involved in creating and sharing knowledge through peer mentoring. Peer mentoring provides an opportunity to externalize knowledge by turning tacit knowledge into explicit knowledge (Nonaka, 1994). This is a powerful form of knowledge creation and provides a key source of innovation and new ideas in firms. Peer mentors share externalized knowledge when they take time to organize their thoughts, write them down, and make explicit what they understand implicitly. When the apprentice understands the concept the mentor is sharing, the peer engages in internalization and converts explicit...
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