The effect of loving-kindness meditation on employees' mindfulness, affect, altruism and knowledge hiding.
Chao Liu, Hao Chen, Yu-Chao Liang, Szu-Erh Hsu, Ding-Hau Huang, Chia-Yi Liu, Wen-Ko Chiou
BMC Psychology May 29, 2022 DOI: 10.1186/s40359-022-00846-0 (opens in new tab) via PubMed
Summary
AI-generated from the abstractAn 8-week loving-kindness meditation (LKM) training program for 100 employees at a Chinese knowledge-based enterprise increased altruism and reduced negative affect, playing dumb, and evasive hiding, but did not significantly improve mindfulness, positive affect, or rationalized hiding. The control group received no training. The findings suggest LKM may help reduce knowledge-hiding behaviors in workplace settings.
Study at a glance
| Characteristics | Randomized controlled trial Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 100 |
| Population | Employees from a knowledge-based enterprise in China |
| Intervention | Loving-kindness meditation |
| Duration | 8-week intervention |
| Topics | Meditation |
| Keywords | Affect Altruism Knowledge hiding Loving-kindness meditation |
| Key finding | Loving-kindness meditation increased altruism and reduced negative affect, playing dumb, and evasive hiding, but did not significantly affect mindfulness, positive affect, or rationalized hiding. |
Abstract
This study investigated the effects of the loving-kindness meditation (LKM) on employees' mindfulness, affect, altruism and knowledge hiding. In total, 100 employees were recruited from a knowledge-based enterprise in China and randomly divided into the LKM training group (n = 50) and the control group (n = 50). The LKM training group underwent LKM training for 8 weeks, while the control group did not. Seven main variables (mindfulness, altruism positive affect, negative affect, playing dumb, rationalized hiding, and evasive hiding) were measured both before (pre-test) and after (post-test) the LKM training intervention. The LKM intervention significantly increased participants' altruism, and significantly reduced negative affect, playing dumb and evasive hiding, but did not significantly improve mindfulness, positive affect, and rationalized hiding. LKM significantly improved employees' altruism, and significantly reduce their negative affect, but did not significantly improve their mindfulness and positive affect. For knowledge hiding, LKM significantly reduced playing dumb and evasive hiding, but had no significant effect on rationalized hiding. These results further elucidate the psychological effects of LKM and suggest the possibility of reducing knowledge hiding in the workplace. ChiCTR2200057460. Registered in Chinese Clinical Trial Registry (ChiCTR), 13 March 2022-Retrospectively registered.