The ways that colleges and universities go about instilling and developing the necessary skills and knowledge that promote the individual and group leadership abilities of board members has received little study. The present study examined differences between postsecondary sectors in the degree to which Chait, Holland, and Taylor's six competencies of an effective board are evident in mentoring relationships, to determine the influence participants perceive mentoring to have on new board member knowledge, skills, and abilities, and to identify trends in peer mentoring which may enhance mentoring success and build new board member aptitude.

The principal independent variable was institution type; the secondary independent variable was participant role. The dependent variables were the six dimensions of Chait, Holland and Taylor's competency framework of an effective board. A cross-sectional quantitative non-experimental study was implemented using an Internet-based survey to gather data from mentors, mentees, and professional board staff at participating institutions. Nine hundred twenty-seven (927) board professionals, each representing one postsecondary governing board from the Association of Governing Boards of Colleges and Universities board professional membership list, were invited to participate. Mentor and mentee participants were subsequently identified by participating board professionals. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze survey data beginning with sample demographics through a review of perceptual differences associated with each hypothesis.

Results indicate that there may be a mismatch between the perceptions of board professionals, mentors, and mentees regarding the presence of training related to the mentoring program's purpose. There is also a discrepancy between mentor and mentee perception of the content of mentoring discussions. Mentors perceived discussion of each of the board competency dimensions to a greater extent than did mentees. Further research on new board member mentoring and replication of this study is recommended. Additional research should include the use and characteristics of new board member mentoring programs, board mentoring as an educational tool, mentoring evaluation methods and uses, participant training programs, and the impact of mentoring on individual and board performance, trustee retention, institutional service, and level of institutional commitment.