Mentoring, Proactive work behavior and Employee Skills Development in Organizations: A Systematic Review

Background: The systematic review aims to synthesize empirical and theoretical evidence on the relationship between mentoring, proactive work behavior, and employee skills development in organizational settings. We draw on Gary Becker’s Human Capital Theory (1989), Albert Bandura’s Social Cognitive Theory (1986), and Michael Crant’s Proactive Behavior Theory (2000) to explain how mentoring and proactive behavior interact to enhance workforce skills and competencies. Methodology: The review adopted PRISMA guidelines to compile, synthesize and analysed peer-reviewed articles published between 2021 and 2025, retrieved from Scopus, Web of Science, and EBSCOhost databases. Following systematic screening and eligibility assessment, 44 studies met the inclusion criteria and were subjected to narrative synthesis. Findings: The review found that mentoring significantly enhances employee skills development, self-efficacy, career progression, and organizational productivity. While proactive work behavior emerged as an important behavioral mechanism through which employees transform mentoring support into learning outcomes through feedback-seeking, continuous learning, and adaptive engagement. Research Limitations and Future Directions: The review was limited to English-language peer-reviewed studies and predominantly quantitative designs. Future research should adopt longitudinal, qualitative, and cross-cultural comparative approaches, particularly in underrepresented regions such as Africa. Originality/Value: This review contributes to Industrial and Organizational Psychology (IOP) and Human Resource Management (HRM) by advancing an integrated understanding of mentoring and proactive work behavior as strategic mechanisms for employee skills development.