Publication Type
Journal Article
Version
acceptedVersion
Publication Date
6-2017
Abstract
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, an industry in which turnover rates are very high. This study found that mindfulness was associated with lower turnover intentions and less emotional exhaustion, and that emotional exhaustion mediated the relationship between mindfulness and turnover intentions. Study 2 replicated these results in a sample of employees based in major Indian cities and drawn from different industries. In addition, it showed that mindfulness was positively related to supervisor-rated task performance, with emotional exhaustion again playing a mediating role. We discuss theoretical and practical implications of our findings, as well as future research directions.
Keywords
Emotional exhaustion, Job performance, Mindfulness, Turnover intentions
Discipline
Human Resources Management | Organizational Behavior and Theory
Research Areas
Organisational Behaviour and Human Resources
Publication
Mindfulness
Volume
8
Issue
3
First Page
707
Last Page
716
ISSN
1868-8527
Identifier
10.1007/s12671-016-0648-z
Publisher
Springer Verlag (Germany)
Citation
Jochen REB; NARAYANAN, Jayanth; CHATURVEDI, Sankalp; and EKKIRALA, Srinivas.
The mediating role of emotional exhaustion in the relationship of mindfulness with turnover intentions and job performance. (2017). Mindfulness. 8, (3), 707-716.
Available at: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/lkcsb_research/4989
Copyright Owner and License
Authors
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Additional URL
https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-016-0648-z