Document Type : Research Article

Authors

• mohsen arefnezhad ¹
• Maryam Zinivand ²

¹ Faculty member of Lorestan University, Department of Management

² MSc., Business Administration, Lorestan University, Khorramabad, Iran.

Abstract

Purpose: Mindfulness for leadership can lead to the development of positive organizational behaviors and psychological capital, such as optimism, hope, resilience, and self-efficacy, because mindful individuals are more aware of their own information and can regulate behavior in accordance with their nature. Accordingly, the present study was conducted to identify the effective factors and consequences of mindful leadership in government organizations.
Design/ methodology/ approach: The present study is a mixed-method study based on qualitative and quantitative research, and is also classified as a deductive-inductive research in terms of research philosophy. This study is applied in terms of its purpose and exploratory in terms of its data collection method. In the present study, managers and employees of government organizations, as well as university professors, were selected as samples. Regarding the method of choosing the statistical population, it should be stated that, given that the subject of the study is mindful leadership, people who are theoretically and practically familiar with this concept and have the necessary information and knowledge to answer the interview and questionnaire questions should be used. For this reason, using the purposive sampling method and based on the theoretical saturation principle, 25 managers and employees of government organizations, as well as university professors, were selected as sample members. The data collection tool in the qualitative part is an interview, the validity and reliability of which was carried out using content validity and theoretical validity, and the method of intra-coder and inter-coder reliability assessment. It is necessary to explain that since the present study is a mixed research with an exploratory approach, a qualitative study must be conducted first, and then a quantitative study. In the qualitative part, the qualitative data that were collected using the opinions of 25 experts were analyzed using MaxQDA software and the content analysis and coding method. Then, in the quantitative part, considering that the data collection tool is a questionnaire, the data were provided to the same sample in the form of a paired comparison questionnaire, and the obtained data were analyzed using the steps of the fuzzy cognitive map method.
Research Findings: In this study, the findings can be presented in quantitative and qualitative sections. The findings of the qualitative section indicate the effective factors and consequences related to mindfulness in managers of government organizations. Accordingly, the effective factors on mindfulness in managers of government organizations include welcoming changes, having a spirit of cognitive flexibility, independence and self-direction, benefiting from the power of risk-taking, having the ability to focus on details, having a spirit of learning and participation, commitment to values ​​and ethical principles, the ability to accurately understand the environment and situations, striving for professional development, and the ability to control and regulate emotions. Also, the consequences or downstream factors of mindfulness in managers of government organizations are reducing human errors, identifying internal blind spots, strengthening communication skills, improving the decision-making process, aligning employees with the organization's mission, reducing stress and work tensions, increasing job satisfaction, balancing internal and external processing, reducing job turnover rates, and creating a positive organizational culture.
Limitations & Consequences: One of the limitations of the present study is the cross-sectional study of mindful leadership. Therefore, it is suggested that future research should select a specific organization to study the process of formation of such leadership over time and examine its changes over time. Another limitation of the study is the statistical population, which consisted of managers and employees of government organizations, as well as university professors. Caution should be exercised when generalizing the results.
Practical Consequences: By identifying the effective factors and consequences of the formation of mindful leadership and directing it correctly, organizational goals can be achieved, and productivity in organizations can be increased.
Innovation or value of the Article: The innovation of the present study is that the mindfulness of managers of government organizations, which was previously considered a theoretical gap in this field, was partially filled. The fundamental difference between the findings of this study and the results of previous studies is that this study was able to identify the effective factors and consequences of mindful leadership in government organizations by using the FCM approach, which has not been done in previous studies.
Paper Type: Original Paper
 

Keywords

• Leadership
• Mindfulness
• Mindful Leadership
• Government Organizations