An Ecological Systems Perspective on Mentoring at Work: A Review and Future Prospects DAWN E. CHANDLER * California Polytechnic State University, College of Business KATHY E. KRAM Boston University, School of Management JEFFREY YIP Boston University, School of Management Abstract After nearly 30 years as a subject of inquiry, mentoring remains a mainstay in the organizational literature, as relationships are arguably more important than ever to employees’ personal and career growth. In this paper, we take an ecological perspective to situate and review topical areas of the literature with the intention of enhancing our understanding of how mentoring outcomes for prote ´ge ´s and mentors are determined not only by individual differences (e.g., personality) and dyadic factors (e.g., the quality of a relationship)—both of which represent the most frequently examined levels * Corresponding author. Email: dachandl@calpoly.edu The Academy of Management Annals Vol. 5, No. 1, June 2011, 519–570 ISSN 1941-6520 print/ISSN 1941-6067 online # 2011 Academy of Management DOI: 10.1080/19416520.2011.576087 http://www.informaworld.com 519 Downloaded by [Boston University] at 05:42 01 August 2011