Benefits of Mindfulness in the Workplace: The Effects of Mindful Practices on Counterproductive Workplace Behaviors and Organizational Citizenship Behaviors

Abstract

Mindfulness research has been growing in its scope of having an influencing impact within organizational settings. A goal of this study was to add to the ongoing research by including situational factors, as they might relate to mindfulness practices in the workplace. Counterproductive Workplace Behaviors (CWBs) or Organizational Citizenship Behaviors (OCBs); nor have any examined the moderating effects that key demographic variables might play in these relationships. A significant contribution of this study was the results showing these two types behaviors have different outcomes when they are moderated by age, gender, and ethnicity. Job level, job tenure, and job type did not have any significant moderating effects. Four subscales of CWBs were examined as they relate to mindfulness: ineffective job performance, absenteeism, workplace harassment, and employee theft. Mindfulness had significant interactive effects with demographic variables when predicting all of these. However, there were no significant interactive effects found when mindfulness predicted OCBs. Mindfulness was a significant predictor when it came to OCBs without any controls. The results in the HR context have practical implications regarding how organizations should implement or encourage employee mindfulness training practices. It has been related to lower reported CWBs and increased OCBs. Furthermore, the differential outcomes in the CWB and OCB contexts provide a first step in expanding upon the theoretical and practical implications of various contexts and how they are influenced by mindfulness.