Effect of leader mindfulness on hindrance stress in nurses: The social mindfulness information processing path

Abstract

Aim: This study aimed to explore the influence of leader mindfulness on hindrance stress in nurses. Based on the social mindfulness framework, the mediating effects of nurses' perceptions of their leaders' perspective taking and empathic concern and how they are moderated by mindfulness of nurses were investigated. Design:A time-lagged cross-sectional survey was conducted. Methods:The convenience sampling method was adopted. Data were collected at three time points from January to September 2020. A total of 393 paired datasets of nurses and their leaders were collected from 28 Chinese 3A grade hospitals. SPSS 23.0 and AMOS 23.0 were used for data analysis and hypotheses testing. Results:(1) Leader mindfulness significantly reduced nurse hindrance stress. (2) Both nurses' perceptions of their leaders' perspective taking and empathic concern mediated the relationship between leader mindfulness and nurse hindrance stress.Empathic concern was more effective than perspective taking in the process of leader mindfulness for reducing nurse hindrance stress. Nurses' perceptions of their leaders' perspective taking completely mediated the relationship between empathic concern and nurse hindrance stress. (3) Nurse mindfulness moderated the relationship between leader mindfulness and nurses' perceptions of their leaders' empathic concern but had no significant effect on the relationship between leader mindfulness and nurses' perceptions of their leaders' perspective taking. Conclusion:Leader mindfulness was an important interpersonal factor for reducing nurse hindrance stress. Nurses' perceptions of their leaders' perspective taking and empathic concern were pivotal mechanisms underlying the effectiveness of leader mindfulness. Nurse mindfulness is a situational factor that contributes to the effectiveness of leader mindfulness. Impact: Hospitals can benefit from mindfulness interventions by improving the mindfulness of leaders and nurses. Nurse managers are encouraged to promote social mindfulness, which will enable perspective taking and empathic concern by nurses and thus reduce hindrance stress on nurses during the pandemic.

Mindfulness and emotion: a five-level analysis

“…Given that mindfulness is associated with higher positive affect and lower negative affect at the individual level, it follows that leaders who are relatively mindful should also experience more positive affect and less negative affect. Moreover, self-reported mindfulness in leaders has been positively associated with greater psychological need satisfaction among subordinates (Reb, Narayanan, & Chaturvedi, 2014), less stress (Liu, Zhao, & Lu, 2021), and emotional exhaustion (Schuh, Zheng, Xin, & Fernandez, 2019), as well as higher subordinate ratings of Leader Member Exchange (LMX, see Amina, Hadi, Waheed, & Fayyaz, 2021; Tan, Wang, & Huang, 2021; Wang, Shi, & Wang, 2021), servant leadership (Verdorfer, 2016), and transformational leadership (Lange, Bormann, & Rowold, 2018).…”

Wise Ancestors, Good Ancestors: Why Mindfulness Matters in the Promotion of Planetary Health

“…First, correlations between high levels of wisdom and mindfulness [69] have been noted, and mindfulness has been identified as a predictor of wisdom [70,71]; second, mindfulness has also been correlated with human flourishing [72][73][74] and lower allostatic load [75]. Thirdly, in an era where the need for wise leaders is an urgent priority, it is worth noting the emerging research demonstrating that mindfulness among leaders in various workplaces has a positive influence on employee wellbeing [76][77][78][79]. Indeed, because mindfulness training directed at policy makers seems to provoke enthusiasm for policy that tackles society's problems at the level of the human heart and mind, mindfulness has been identified as a potential upstream driver of flourishing in society more broadly [80], particularly when introduced early in life during periods of developmental plasticity (Figure 3).…”

Leader mindfulness and employee safety behaviors in the workplace: a moderated mediation study

“…Since accidents are major causes of deaths and disabilities, safety behaviors are critical in organizations. Even though accident rates have decreased due to advances in science and technology and the development of safety equipment, safety measures and safety-related laws and regulations, human factor-associated accidents are increasing (Liu et al. , 2021).…”

“…The effects of transformational, empowering and authentic leadership on employee safety behaviors have been studied, however, only a limited number of studies have investigated the effects of leadership characteristics (Lee et al. , 2019; Liu et al. , 2021; Lyubykh et al.…”