Pre-entry Peer Mentoring and Mentor Intention: Mentoring Usefulness and Workload Feasibility

Abstract

Pre-matriculation transition programs often include peer mentoring; however, their sustainability depends on whether incoming students are willing to serve as mentors. Using an end-of-program survey from a 10-week online pre-entry program at a private university in eastern Japan, we reanalyzed the responses of students who participated in the mentoring component (N = 330). Students evaluated the overall program favorably (M = 3.73, SD = 0.50, on a 4-point agreement scale) and reported high perceived usefulness of mentoring. Mentoring usefulness was operationalized as a two-item index averaging perceived usefulness of the mentoring system and group meetings (α = .87; n = 322). Logistic regression models with department fixed effects were estimated to assess intention to serve as a mentor in the subset with complete outcome and index data (n = 308). Mentoring usefulness was positively associated with mentor intention (Model 2: OR = 1.76, 95% CI [1.17, 2.63]), whereas perceived weekly workload showed a weaker and less consistent association. The predicted probabilities indicated a higher likelihood of intending to mentor at higher levels of mentoring usefulness across workload groups. Open-ended comments highlighted redesign levers related to workload pacing, clarity of expectations, and responsiveness in mentor communication. The results suggest that early mentor pipelines may be strengthened by making mentoring support consistently available while keeping weekly demands manageable.