BUS603: Managing People

In the last decades, the construct of mindfulness, an open, non-judging awareness of the current experience, has received growing attention in psychological research. While the bulk of research on mindfulness has been conducted in the field of health sciences, less attention has been devoted to the work context. In recent years, however, a number of researchers have started to explore whether, how, and to what degree individuals can benefit from mindfulness in the work environment. This research has mostly focused on positive intrapersonal effects (i.e., effects within individuals) of mindfulness, for instance on employee wellbeing, emotion regulation, psychological detachment from work, and job performance, while studies on interpersonal effects (i.e., effects between individuals) are just beginning to emerge. This is reflected in the recent call by Good et al., stating that "research in neuropsychology, cognitive psychology, medicine, and related disciplines has laid the groundwork for developing and testing theory about how mindfulness might affect relational processes, such as teamwork and leadership, but management scholars have not yet seriously undertaken that challenge".

The present research attempts to address this call by focusing on the relationship between leaders and followers. While some theoretical work has addressed the potential role of mindfulness in the leadership process, empirical evidence is scant. Two studies reported by Reb et al. provided first evidence for a positive effect of leaders' mindfulness on follower wellbeing and work performance. Similarly, Reb et al. found a positive relationship between leader mindfulness and followers' reports of leader–member (LMX) quality. These studies, however, did not investigate how leaders' mindfulness manifests in actual behaviors that influence their interactions. Thus, the specific mechanisms and "behavioral correlates" of leaders' mindfulness as well as its effects remain unclear and are yet to be explored. Against this backdrop, the main purpose of the present research is to enhance our understanding of the underlying behavioral mechanisms linking leaders' mindfulness to follower outcomes. We adopt a communication-centered view of leadership and propose that leaders' mindfulness relates to a specific communication style of leaders that we term "mindfulness in communication". This communication style, in turn, is assumed to predict followers' interaction satisfaction as well as their overall satisfaction with the leader.

Overall, there are several reasons why exploring the interpersonal effects of leaders' mindfulness in more detail is enriching and worthwhile, thus offering valuable contributions to the pertinent literature. First, we contribute to the emerging literature on mindfulness at work, especially with regard to its interpersonal qualities. By examining the relationship between leader mindfulness and actual leader behaviors, we identify interesting and compelling relations that help us better understand the mechanisms that carry the effects of leader mindfulness to employees. Second, we contribute to the literature on leader communication by exploring the assumption that mindfulness may serve as a determinant of a more successful communication style. Related to this, by introducing a behavioral measure of mindfulness in communication, we add to a more thorough understanding of effective leader communication repertoires.