Business Commons^™

Effects Of A Mindfulness-Based Leadership Training On Leadership Behaviors And Effectiveness, Nina Tan, Eva Katharina Peters, Jochen Reb

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Objectives: Organizations increasingly integrate mindfulness elements into their leadership development. However, there is limited evidence supporting the efficacy of mindfulness-based leadership training (MBLT) due to a scarcity of intervention studies. Theoretically, little is known about mediating mechanisms through which MBLT might affect leadership effectiveness. Thus, this research examined whether MBLT can improve leadership effectiveness and whether leadership behaviors mediated this effect.MethodsWe conducted a quasi-experimental study conducted in a real-world setting with an active control condition. Sixty leaders from various industries participated in either a 2-day intensive MBLT workshop followed by three individual coaching sessions over 3 months, or a presentation …

The Impact Of Wisdom And Courage On Presencing And Absencing At Work: The Mediating Role Of Mindfulness, Melita Balas Rant

Economic and Business Review

Background and Objective: Wisdom and courage are positive psychological capacities. Presencing and absencing at work are novel employee attitudes and behaviours. The objective of this paper is to explore the impact of wisdom and courage on presencing and absencing at work, while also considering possible mediation through mindfulness.

Methods: This paper hypothesises that wisdom has a positive impact on presencing and a negative impact on absencing, while courage has a negative impact on presencing and a positive impact on absencing. We expect mindfulness mediates the aforementioned relationships. An analysis is performed on a sample of 274 employees in …

Mindfully Outraged: Mindfulness Increases Deontic Retribution For Third-Party Injustice, Adam A. Kay, Theodore Charles Masters-Waage, Jochen Reb, Pavlos A. Vlachos

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Mindfulness is known to temper negative reactions by both victims and perpetrators of injustice. Accordingly, critics claim that mindfulness numbs people to injustice, raising concerns about its moral implications. Exam-ining how mindful observers respond to third-party injustice, we integrate mindfulness with deontic justice theory to propose that mindfulness does not numb but rather enlivens people to injustice committed by others against others. Results from three studies show that mindfulness heightens moral outrage in witnesses of injustice, particularly when the injustice is only moderate. Although these findings did not replicate with a mindfulness induction, post-hoc analysis in a fourth study reveals …

Maximising Effectiveness Of Talent Pools Through Mindfulness: An Empirical Investigation In A Multinational Corporation, Tarmo Raudsepp

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

Traditional human resource management is looking to identify and develop talent for maximising human capital in a competitive environment with limited resources and negative demographic trends. Attracting, deploying, motivating, developing and retaining talented employees is a corporate norm for meeting organisational goals. Proper human resource processes through rigorous mapping of employees according to the performance-potential matrix allow the grading of employees against peer groups to establish talent pools for development and internal succession planning.

Mindfulness originates from 2,500-year-old Buddhist spiritual practices and has a rare combination of spirituality and science. Eastern perspective originates from Asian traditions focusing on the self-regulation …

What Has Changed For Top Mba Schools Within A Decade In Terms Of Mindfulness?, Dr. Damla Aktan, Asst. Prof. Nilgün Gürkaynak

International Journal for Business Education

The concepts of “mindful consumption” and “sustainability” became indispensable parts of both academia and business life. Based upon an initial research conducted in 2012, this research aims to understand and compare the change within a decade in MBA curricula in terms of mindfulness content inclusion as well as sustainability and ecological orientation. The results compare the evolution of the integration of concepts to curricula since 2012 through the official websites of the top 100 MBA schools of the Financial Times Global Ranking in both 2012 and 2022. The study aims to summarize how the concepts of sustainability, mindful consumption and …

Mindfulness Attenuates Both Emotional And Behavioral Reactions Following Psychological Contract Breach: A Two-Stage Moderated Mediation Model, Samah Shaffakat, Lilian Otaye-Ebede, Jochen Reb, Rajesh Chandwani, Pisitta Vongswasdi

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Breach of the psychological contract between organization and employee often evokes employee hostility, which in turn can instigate deviant behaviors. We examine whether employee mindfulness attenuates these reactions to psychological contract breach. Specifically, we develop and test a two-stage moderated mediation model in which employee mindfulness moderates the mediational path from psychological contract breach via hostility to deviance by attenuating both emotional and behavioral reactions. Findings across four studies (with 872 employee participants) both measuring and manipulating breach and mindfulness demonstrate substantial support for the proposed model. Further analyses including alternative moderators, mediators, and dependent variables provide evidence for discriminatory …

It's So Boring - Or Is It? Examining The Role Of Mindfulness For Work Performance And Attitudes In Monotonous Jobs, Andreas Wihler, Ute R. Hulsheger, Jochen Reb, Jochen I. Menges

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

We examine the role of employee mindfulness in the context of highly monotonous work conditions. Integrating research on task monotony with theorizing on mindfulness, we hypothesized that mindfulness is negatively associated with the extent to which employees feel generally bored by their jobs. We further hypothesized that this lower employee boredom would relate to downstream outcomes in the form of job attitudes (job satisfaction and turnover intentions) and task performance. We examined both objective task performance quality and quantity to shed light on the complexity of the mindfulness-task performance relation, which has so far mostly been investigated using subjective supervisor …

It’S So Boring – Or Is It? Examining The Role Of Mindfulness For Work Performance And Attitudes In Monotonous Jobs, Andreas Wihler, Ute R. Hülsheger, Jochen Reb, Jochen I. Menges

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

We examine the role of employee mindfulness in the context of highly monotonous work conditions. Integrating research on task monotony with theorizing on mindfulness, we hypothesized that mindfulness is negatively associated with the extent to which employees feel generally bored by their jobs. We further hypothesized that this lower employee boredom would relate to downstream outcomes in the form of job attitudes (job satisfaction and turnover intentions) and task performance. We examined both objective task performance quality and quantity to shed light on the complexity of the mindfulness–task performance relation, which has so far mostly been investigated using subjective supervisor …

Healing Racial Injustice With Mindfulness Research, Training, & Practice, Danielle "Danae" Laura

Mindfulness Studies Theses

This thesis offers a collection of authors and studies in support of improved research, training, and practice connecting mindfulness with racial justice through intergroup applications. The paper identifies barriers at work (e.g., colorblindness, spiritual bypass, white fragility, and implicit bias) in contemplative science, Western Buddhist communities, and secular mindfulness centers, which block the sizeable contributions possible in studying the intergroup application of mindfulness practice—specifically Lovingkindness Meditation, among others—when used as an intervention with anti-racist aims. Through secondary qualitative research, I reviewed six key works from Black authors on mindfulness and race, as well as six sample studies on the prosocial …

From Me To We: A Phenomenological Inquiry Into Group Beingness, Stacey K. Guenther

Antioch University Full-Text Dissertations & Theses

To be human is to be a member of myriad groups. The universality of groups in our lives poses an important area of study for social scientists investigating human flourishing. Additionally, inquiring into the evolutionary potential of groups may begin to inform new ways of addressing the intractable issues we face as a human species. While most empirical studies of groups focus on group performance, or group doingness, this study explored group beingness and the experience of manifesting deep union and oneness, which is an intersubjective phenomenon that has been called coherence. Intersubjective coherence is often written about from a …

Creating Positive Impact: The Power Of Greater Purpose And Consciousness Of Connectedness, Joseph Leah, Chris Laszlo

Engaged Management ReView

As the idea of business as a positive force in society continues to grow, we ask: Under what conditions do business leaders transform their companies into organizations that create positive value for all stakeholders, generate above-average economic returns, and serve personal well-being, community health, a fair and inclusive society, and a thriving natural environment?

This study aims to explore the underlying factors and motivations of business as a force for good, and to identify practical guidance for business leaders wishing to create a positive impact through their organizations. Our prior research led us to hypothesize that a leader’s mindset—or consciousness—is …

Going Far Together By Being Here Now: Mindfulness Increases Cooperation In Negotiations, Theodore Charles Masters-Waage, Jared Nai, Jochen Reb, Samantha Sim, Jayanth Narayanan, Noriko Tan

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Integrating theorizing across the mindfulness and negotiation literatures, we hypothesize that mindfulness increases cooperation in negotiations. We further propose that processes of self-transcendence, self-regulation, and self-awareness mediate this effect. We test these hypotheses in five studies across different forms of cooperation, in both distributive and integrative negotiation contexts, and for both measured and experimentally induced mindfulness. In Study 1a, individuals higher on measured state mindfulness displayed greater cooperative orientation measured as preference for pareto-optimal agreements. In Study 1b, experimentally induced mindfulness led to greater cooperative orientation measured as the recall of cooperative heuristics. In Study 2, a distributive (fixed-sum) negotiation, …

An Initial Examination Of State And Longitudinal Effects Of Loving-Kindness Practice On Affective And Motivational States At Work, Theodore Charles Masters-Waage, Jochen Reb, William Tov

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Objectives: Drawing on practices and concepts from Buddhist ethics, we developed a loving-kindness training. We investigated the state and longitudinal effects of this training on employees’ affective and motivational states at work in two studies. Methods: Study 1 tested this training program in a randomized controlled trial, comparing the effects of loving-kindness practice on employee affect and motivation with an active (mindfulness) and a passive (waitlist) control condition. Analyses focused on both longitudinal effects (increases in affect and motivation over the training period) and state effects (effects of practice on daily affect and motivation). Study 2 conducted a 1-week study …

A Self-Regulation Model Of Leader Authenticity Based On Mindful Self-Regulated Attention And Political Skill, Erik Dietl, Jochen Reb

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Despite much research on leader authenticity, its antecedents remain poorly understood. We develop a self-regulatory model of leader authenticity. The model explains how both mindful self-regulated attention and political skill, as well as their interaction, are important for leaders to be authentic, and ultimately effective. Mindful self-regulated attention – a core dimension of mindfulness defined as sustained attention centered on the present moment – helps leaders stay connected to their core self amid the busyness of their (work) lives, allowing leaders to feel authentic. And, particularly in combination with political skill – a social effectiveness construct –, it helps leaders …

Mindfulness Arrives At Work: Deepening Our Understanding Of Mindfulness In Organizations, Jochen Reb, Tammy Allen, Timothy J. Vogus

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Mindfulness has become an increasingly popular practice and in parallel scholarly research has grown considerably. However, the study of mindfulness at work remains limited and motivates this special issue on “Mindfulness at Work: Pushing Theoretical and Empirical Boundaries.” In this introduction to the special issue we offer a brief initial grounding in the literature on mindfulness at work and in organizations. We then turn attention to how the six articles in this special issue advance this nascent field. We use both as a point of departure for considering the benefits and limits of mindfulness in organizations as well as the …

How Institutions Enhance Mindfulness: Interactions Between External Regulators And Front-Line Operators Around Safety Rules, Ravi S. Kudesia, Ting Lang, Jochen Reb

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

How is it that some organizations can maintain nearly error-free performance, despite trying conditions? Within research on such high-reliability organizations, mindful organizing has been offered as a key explanation. It entails interaction patterns among front-line operators that keep them attentive to potential failures—and relies on them having the expertise and autonomy to address any such failures. In this study, we extend the mindful organizing literature, which emphasizes local interactions among operators, by considering the broader institutional context in which it occurs. Through interview, observational, and archival data of a high-reliability explosive demolitions firm in China, we find that external regulators …

Familiarity, Attitudes, And Self-Regulatory Challenges Related To Mindfulness, Alissa J. Mrazek, Michael D. Mrazek, Leandro A. Calcagnotto, Jonathan N. Cloughesy, Abigail M. Holman, Theodore C. Masters-Waage, Jonathan W. Schooler

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Objectives: Despite growing evidence demonstrating the benefits of mindfulness for physical and mental health, little is known about the barriers that dissuade individuals from practicing mindfulness. The present study sought to examine the self-regulatory barriers that most commonly prevent mid-life adults from engaging in mindfulness practice. Methods: The present study surveyed a nationally representative sample of 385 mid-life adults (ages 50-64) in the USA to assess familiarity, attitudes, and prior experiences with mindfulness, as well as self-regulatory challenges that may hinder consistent practice. Specifically, this research focused on the self-regulatory elements of (i) goal setting, (ii) limiting beliefs, (iii) habit …

Advancing Leadership Consciousness: Integrity From The Inside Out, Jessica Plancich Shinners

Theses and Dissertations

A poll conducted by the World Economic Forum (2015) found that 86% of respondents perceive that we are facing a global leadership crisis. At the time of this study, the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the global ecology in dramatic and widespread ways. In light of this uncertain political, economic, sociological, and ecological climate, humanity is in need of consistent and reliable ways of developing exemplary leaders. As society enters into massive technological advancement, leaders and collaborators are at risk of obsolescence if we do not find innovative ways to harness innate human capacities to advance consciousness and co-evolve with technology. …

Leader Mindfulness And Employee Performance: A Sequential Mediation Model Of Lmx Quality, Interpersonal Justice, And Employee Stress, Jochen Reb, Sankalp Chaturvedi, Jayanth Narayanan, Ravi S. Kudesia

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

In the present research, we examine the relation between leader mindfulness and employee performance through the lenses of organizational justice and leader-member relations. We hypothesize that employees of more mindful leaders view their relations as being of higher leader-member exchange (LMX) quality. We further hypothesize two mediating mechanisms of this relation: increased interpersonal justice and reduced employee stress. In other words, we posit that employees of more mindful leaders feel treated with greater respect and experience less stress. Finally, we predict that LMX quality serves as a mediator linking leader mindfulness to employee performance—defined in terms of both in-role and …

Contributions Of Mindfulness To Improvisational Behavior And Consequences On Business Performance And Stress Of Entrepreneurs During Economic Downturn, Peerayuth Charoensukmongkol

Organization Management Journal

This research investigates the role of mindfulness among Thai entrepreneurs that can be linked to their improvisational behavior that, in turn, explains business performance and stress during a period of economic contraction in Thailand. This research collected survey data from a sample of 186 owners of small retail shops in major marketplaces in Bangkok, Thailand. Results from partial least squares structural equation modeling show that mindfulness had a positive relationship with the degree of improvisational behavior exhibited by entrepreneurs. The findings also reveal that the entrepreneurs who exhibited a higher degree of improvisational behavior achieved higher business performance and had …

Doing From Being: Creating Organizational Integrity Through Mindful Self-Leadership, Adam Stonebraker

Mindfulness Studies Theses

Mindfulness in the workplace is a subject that has seen significant growth in recent years. Mindfulness, which is rooted in ancient contemplative practice, has gained much traction among Western audiences over the last few decades. The application of Mindfulness practices is prevalent now in workplaces, where its efficacy has been well-documented, and impact has included the reduction of employee stress, increased productivity, and enhancement of one’s well-being.

The principles of mindfulness can be applied across disparate workplace settings and in nearly any situation to help bolster employees’ presence and focus in the day-to-day and retain them in the place of …

The Effect Of Mindfulness Techniques On Teacher Resilience As Moderated By Conscientiousness, Aundrea T. Harris

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Unmanaged stress in teachers often triggers burnout, which leads to a rise in healthcare costs and absenteeism. Therefore, teachers' resiliency needs improvement to lower the risk of burnout. The purpose of this cross-sectional design study was to examine the relationship between mindfulness techniques and resilience in high school teachers. An additional purpose of this study was to examine if the personality trait, conscientiousness, moderates the relationship between mindfulness techniques and resilience. The frameworks for this study were based on the self-awareness, -regulation, and -transcendence (S-ART) framework, theory of planned behavior, and the concepts of resilience and job burnout. Four surveys …

The Relationship Between Mindfulness And Leadership: How Mindfulness Practices Affect Leadership Practices, James Van Auken

Antioch University Full-Text Dissertations & Theses

The aim of this study was to explore and understand the relationship between mindfulness practices and actual leadership practices. This qualitative study utilized narrative inquiry with phenomenological interviewing techniques to explore selective leaders who use mindfulness practices, and see how they used mindfulness in their leadership practice. Sixteen in-depth interviews were conducted and thematic analysis was utilized. Eleven themes were identified with multiple sub- and sub-sub-themes, including: “Personal, Internal Mindfulness Practice,” “Being Mindful Toward Self,” “Being Present with Others,” “Being Present with a Group,” “Mindful Shift of Focus/Attention,” “Emotional Intelligence,” “Buffering of Reactivity,” “Resilience and Recovery,” “Alignment,” “Improved Job Performance,” …

Leading Mindfully In Dynamic Times: Can A Mindfulness-Based Leadership Training And Coaching Program Increase Leadership Effectiveness?, Nina Tan

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

This research examined the influence of a Mindfulness-based Leadership Training and Coaching Program (MBP), in garnering three aspects of leadership effectiveness; extra employee effort, productive performance and followers’ satisfaction with leadership.

We hypothesized that mindfulness-based leadership training and coaching program can influence leaders’ frequency in adopting authentic, transformational and transactional leadership behaviors to enhance leadership effectiveness.

We tested these predictions separately on two control and intervention groups. Results suggested that the combined training and coaching mindfulness-based intervention program had predictive effects between the practice of mindful attunement of leaders’ behaviors and enhancement in leadership effectiveness, even in a short span …

Mindfulness And The Risk-Resilience Tradeoff In Organizations, Ravi S. Kudesia, Jochen Reb

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Through this chapter, we seek to contribute to ongoing discussion about risk, resilience, and how they can be jointly managed (see Linkov, Trump, & Keisler, 2018), particularly in the context of organizations. We start by reviewing the traditional image of organizations. In this traditional image, processes related to risk and resilience are seen as complementary, as these processes pertain to distinct aspects of the organizational environment. We then complicate this theoretical image by introducing five underappreciated ways that risk and resilience processes may not be complementary in practice—because the aspects of the environment to which these processes pertain cannot always …

Mindfulness And Individual Error Orientation In High Reliability Organizations, Ellen Choi

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Mindfulness is a concept drawn from the contemplative traditions that refers to present-moment, non-judgmental awareness. Exactly how applicable mindfulness is in the workplace requires further empirical validation, particularly on outcomes immediately relevant to organizations. This study contributes to literature examining the effects of mindfulness in organizational settings by considering the effects of an 8-week workplace mindfulness training program in a high-reliability organization (hospital) on individual error orientation, an individual’s propensity to learn from error, worry about error, or hide error. This study adds to the current state of knowledge by providing further insight into why one holds a particular error …

The Mediating Role Of Emotional Exhaustion In The Relationship Of Mindfulness With Turnover Intentions And Job Performance, Jochen Reb, Jayanth Narayanan, Sankalp Chaturvedi, Srinivas Ekkirala

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Mindfulness in the workplace has emerged as a legitimate and growing area of organizational scholarship. The present research examined the role of employee emotional exhaustion in mediating the relationship of mindfulness with turnover intentions and task performance. Drawing on theory and empirical research on both organizational behavior and mindfulness, we predicted that more mindful employees would show lower turnover intentions and higher task performance and that these relationships would be mediated by emotional exhaustion. We tested these hypotheses in two field studies in an Indian context. Study 1 was a field study of call center employees of a multinational organization, …

Contemplating Mindfulness At Work: An Integrative Review, Christopher Lyddy, Darren J. Good, Theresa M. Glomb, Joyce E. Bono, Kirk W. Brown, Michelle K. Duffy, Ruth A. Baer, Judson A. Brewer, Sara W. Lazar

School of Business Faculty Publications

Mindfulness research activity is surging within organizational science. Emerging evidence across multiple fields suggests that mindfulness is fundamentally connected to many aspects of workplace functioning, but this knowledge base has not been systematically integrated to date. This review coalesces the burgeoning body of mindfulness scholarship into a framework to guide mainstream management research investigating a broad range of constructs. The framework identifies how mindfulness influences attention, with downstream effects on functional domains of cognition, emotion, behavior, and physiology. Ultimately, these domains impact key workplace outcomes, including performance, relationships, and well-being. Consideration of the evidence on mindfulness at work stimulates important …

Improving Decision Making Through Mindfulness, Natalie Karelaia, Jochen Reb

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

With perhaps a few exceptions per day, we are seldom fully aware of our thoughts, actions, emotions, and what is happening around us. Even when it comes to making decisions, an activity that is often quite conscious, deliberate, and intentional, people are typically not as aware as they could be. We argue that as a result, decision quality may suffer. Consequently, mindfulness, most often defined as the state of being openly attentive to and aware of what is taking place in the present, both internally and externally (e.g., Brown and Ryan 2003; Kabat-Zinn 1982; 1990), can help people make better …

Acceptance Of Change: Exploring The Relationship Among Psychometric Constructs And Employee Resistance, Brian Dunican

Dissertations

Change is inevitable and can influence numerous events inside and outside an organization. The contrasting attitudes of acceptance and resistance to change are an increasingly interesting topic in today’s global, ever-changing, and competitive environment. Discovering the behavioral origins of employees’ reactions to change is an integral part of understanding the way in which individual mindset may play a role in coping with organizational change and resistance. This body of knowledge may give organizations insight for creating a competitive advantage over their counterparts. Conceivably, it can be argued that some researchers view change as a process of gradual adaptation that is …