Contemplating Mindfulness at Work

A growing body of evidence suggests mindfulness is closely tied to many aspects of workplace functioning, but this knowledge has not been systematically integrated. This review organizes the expanding mindfulness scholarship into a framework to guide management research. The framework shows how mindfulness affects attention, which then influences cognition, emotion, behavior, and physiology. These domains ultimately impact key workplace outcomes such as performance, relationships, and well-being. The evidence on mindfulness at work raises important questions and challenges key assumptions in management science, pointing toward an agenda for future research.

Study at a glance

Abstract

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 questions and challenges key assumptions within management science, generating an agenda for future research.