Abstract
Clinical studies have suggested the importance of mindfulness in curbing psychological illbeing. However, this has been overlooked in the occupational setting, especially in some service sectors where employees are more prone to work-related stress and burnout. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to examine the indirect relationship between mindfulness and emotional exhaustion through psychological distress, and the moderating role of workplace bullying. Employees in the North Cyprus-based hospitality sector (Study 1) and in the Nigeria-based healthcare sector (Study 2) completed surveys during a time-lagged data collection procedure. The results of both studies indicated that mindfulness could significantly reduce psychological distress and subsequently emotional exhaustion when workplace bullying was low to moderate. The current work extends the extant mindfulness and occupational wellbeing literature by shedding more light on the underlying and conditional mechanisms explaining the salutary role of mindfulness on wellbeing. In the same vein, it also expands the burnout and workplace bullying body of knowledge that is particularly understudied in sub-Saharan Africa. Additional theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed further, alongside limitations and future studies directions.
Similar content being viewed by others
Data Availability
The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
References
Abubakar, A. M. (2018). Linking work-family interference, workplace incivility, gender and psychological distress. Journal of Management Development, 37(3), 226–242. https://doi.org/10.1108/JMD-06-2017-0207
Adams, G. A., & Webster, J. R. (2013). Emotional regulation as a mediator between interpersonal mistreatment and distress. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 22(6), 697–710. https://doi.org/10.1080/1359432X.2012.698057
Ågotnes, K. W., Einarsen, S. V., Hetland, J., & Skogstad, A. (2018). The moderating effect of laissez-faire leadership on the relationship between co-worker conflicts and new cases of workplace bullying: A true prospective design. Human Resource Management Journal, 28(4), 555–568. https://doi.org/10.1111/1748-8583.12200
Aiken, L. S., & West, S. G. (1991). Multiple regression: Testing and interpreting interactions. Sage. https://doi.org/10.1037/10520-147
Akhavan-Abiri, F., Shairi, M. R., & Gholami Fesharaki, M. (2019). The relationship between attachment and psychological distress with regard to the mediating role of mindfulness. KAUMS Journal (FEYZ), 23(1), 89–101.
Alola, U. V., Olugbade, O. A., Avci, T., & Öztüren, A. (2019). Customer incivility and employees’ outcomes in the hotel: Testing the mediating role of emotional exhaustion. Tourism Management Perspectives, 29, 9–17. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tmp.2018.10.004
Anasori, E., Bayighomog, S. W., & Tanova, C. (2020). Workplace bullying, psychological distress, resilience, mindfulness, and emotional exhaustion. The Service Industries Journal, 40(1–2), 65–89. https://doi.org/10.1080/02642069.2019.1589456
Arvidsdotter, T., Marklund, B., Kylén, S., Taft, C., & Ekman, I. (2016). Understanding persons with psychological distress in primary health care. Scandinavian Journal of Caring Sciences, 30(4), 687–694. https://doi.org/10.1111/scs.12289
Baer, R. A., Smith, G. T., Hopkins, J., Krietemeyer, J., & Toney, L. (2006). Using self-report assessment methods to explore facets of mindfulness. Assessment, 13, 27–45. https://doi.org/10.1177/1073191105283504
Bagozzi, R. P., Yi, Y., & Phillips, L. W. (1991). Assessing construct validity in organizational research. Administrative Science Quarterly, 36(3), 421–458. https://doi.org/10.2307/2393203
Bardakçı, E., & Günüşen, N. P. (2016). Influence of workplace bullying on Turkish nurses’ psychological distress and nurses’ reactions to bullying. Journal of Transcultural Nursing: Official Journal of the Transcultural Nursing Society, 27(2), 166–171. https://doi.org/10.1177/1043659614549073
Bayighomog, S. W., & Araslı, H. (2019). Workplace spirituality-customer engagement Nexus: The mediated role of spiritual leadership on customer-oriented boundary-spanning behaviors. The Service Industries Journal, 39(7–8), 637–661. https://doi.org/10.1080/02642069.2019.1570153
Berry, P. A., Gillespie, G. L., Fisher, B. S., Gormley, D., & Haynes, J. T. (2016). Psychological distress and workplace bullying among registered nurses. Online Journal of Issues in Nursing, 21(3). https://doi.org/10.3912/OJIN.Vol21No03PPT41
Brislin, R. W. (1986). The wording and translation of research instruments. In W. J. Lonner & J. W. Berry (Eds.), Field methods in cross-cultural research (pp. 137–164). Sage Publishing.
Brown, K. W., & Ryan, R. M. (2003). The benefits of being present: Mindfulness and its role in psychological well-being. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 84(4), 822–848. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.84.4.822
Chi, S. C. S., & Liang, S. G. (2013). When do subordinates’ emotion-regulation strategies matter? Abusive supervision, subordinates’ emotional exhaustion, and work withdrawal. The Leadership Quarterly, 24(1), 125–137. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.leaqua.2012.08.006
Demerouti, E., & Bakker, A. B. (2011). The job demands–resources model: Challenges for future research. SA Journal of Industrial Psychology, 37(2), 01–09. https://doi.org/10.4102/sajip.v37i2.974
Ding, X., An, Y., Zhou, Y., Zhou, L., & Xu, W. (2019). Emotional responses to perceived haze in daily life: The moderation of dispositional mindfulness. Vulnerable Children and Youth Studies, 14(4), 312–321. https://doi.org/10.1080/17450128.2019.1612127
Edmondson, D. R., Matthews, L. M., & Ambrose, S. C. (2019). A meta-analytic review of emotional exhaustion in a sales context. Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management, 39(3), 275–286. https://doi.org/10.1080/08853134.2019.1592684
Einarsen, S., Hoel, H., & Notelaers, G. (2009). Measuring exposure to bullying and harassment at work: Validity, factor structure and psychometric properties of the negative acts questionnaire-revised. Work and Stress, 23(1), 24–44. https://doi.org/10.1080/02678370902815673
Einarsen, S., Hoel, H., Zapf, D., & Cooper, C. L. (2011). The concept of bullying and harassment at work: The European tradition. In S. Einarsen, H. Hoel, D. Zapf, & C. L. Cooper (Eds.), Bullying and harassment in the workplace: Developments in theory, research, and practice (pp. 3–39). CRC Press. https://doi.org/10.1201/EBK1439804896-3
Ezenwaji, I. O., Eseadi, C., Okide, C. C., Nwosu, N. C., Ugwoke, S. C., Ololo, K. O., Oforka, T. O., & Oboegbulem, A. I. (2019). Work-related stress, burnout, and related sociodemographic factors among nurses: Implications for administrators, research, and policy. Medicine, 98(3), e13889. https://doi.org/10.1097/MD.0000000000013889
Faul, F., Erdfelder, E., Buchner, A., & Lang, A. G. (2009). Statistical power analyses using G* Power 3.1: Tests for correlation and regression analyses. Behavior Research Methods, 41(4), 1149–1160. https://doi.org/10.3758/BRM.41.4.1149
Fornell, C., & Larcker, D. F. (1981). Evaluating structural equation models with unobservable variables and measurement error. Journal of Marketing Research, 18(1), 39–50. https://doi.org/10.1177/002224378101800104
Giorgi, G., Perminienė, M., Montani, F., Fiz-Perez, J., Mucci, N., & Arcangeli, G. (2016). Detrimental effects of workplace bullying: Impediment of self-management competence via psychological distress. Frontiers in Psychology, 7, 60. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00060
Greene, J., Mero, N., & Werner, S. (2018). The negative effects of job embeddedness on performance. Journal of Managerial Psychology, 33(1), 58–73, 33(4). https://doi.org/10.1108/JMP-02-2017-0074
Harker, R., Pidgeon, A. M., Klaassen, F., & King, S. (2016). Exploring resilience and mindfulness as preventative factors for psychological distress burnout and secondary traumatic stress among human service professionals. Work, 54(3), 631–637. https://doi.org/10.3233/wor-162311
Hawkes, A. J., & Neale, C. M. (2020). Mindfulness beyond wellbeing: Emotion regulation and team-member exchange in the workplace. Australian Journal of Psychology, 72(1), 20–30. https://doi.org/10.1111/ajpy.12255
Hayes, A. F. (2018a). Introduction to mediation, moderation, and conditional process analysis: A regression-based approach (2nd ed.). Guilford Publications.
Hayes, A. F. (2018b). Partial, conditional, and moderated moderated mediation: Quantification, inference, and interpretation. Communication Monographs, 85(1), 4–40. https://doi.org/10.1080/03637751.2017.1352100
Hayes, A. F., & Scharkow, M. (2013). The relative trustworthiness of inferential tests of the indirect effect in statistical mediation analysis: Does method really matter? Psychological Science, 24(10), 1918–1927. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797613480187
Hidalgo, M. A., Layland, E., Kubicek, K., & Kipke, M. (2020). Sexual racism, psychological symptoms, and mindfulness among ethnically/racially diverse young men who have sex with men: A moderation analysis. Mindfulness, 11(2), 452–461. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-019-01278-5
Hobfoll, S. E. (2002). Social and psychological resources and adaptation. Review of General Psychology, 6(4), 307–324. https://doi.org/10.1037/1089-2680.6.4.307
Hobfoll, S. E., & Shirom, A. (2000). Conservation of resources theory. In R. Golembiewski (Ed.), Handbook of organizational behavior (pp. 57–80). Marcel Dekker.
Hsu, F. S., Liu, Y. A., & Tsaur, S. H. (2019). The impact of workplace bullying on hotel employees' well-being. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 31(4), 1702–1719. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJCHM-04-2018-0330
Hülsheger, U. R., Lang, J. W., & Maier, G. W. (2010). Emotional labor, strain, and performance: Testing reciprocal relationships in a longitudinal panel study. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 15(4), 505–521. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0021003
Hülsheger, U. R., Alberts, H. J., Feinholdt, A., & Lang, J. W. (2013). Benefits of mindfulness at work: The role of mindfulness in emotion regulation, emotional exhaustion, and job satisfaction. Journal of Applied Psychology, 98(2), 310–325. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0031313
Kabat-Zinn, J. (1982). An outpatient program in behavioral medicine for chronic pain patients based on the practice of mindfulness meditation: Theoretical considerations and preliminary results. General Hospital Psychiatry, 4(1), 33–47. https://doi.org/10.1016/0163-8343(82)90026-3
Karatuna, I., Jonsson, S., & Muhonen, T. (2020). Workplace bullying in the nursing profession: A cross-cultural scoping review. International Journal of Nursing Studies, 111, 103628. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijnurstu.2020.103628
Kearns, N. P., Shawyer, F., Brooker, J. E., Graham, A. L., Enticott, J. C., Martin, P. R., & Meadows, G. N. (2016). Does rumination mediate the relationship between mindfulness and depressive relapse? Psychology and Psychotherapy: Theory, Research and Practice, 89(1), 33–49. https://doi.org/10.1111/papt.12064
Kiken, L. G., Garland, E. L., Bluth, K., Palsson, O. S., & Gaylord, S. A. (2015). From a state to a trait: Trajectories of state mindfulness in meditation during intervention predict changes in trait mindfulness. Personality and Individual Differences, 81, 41–46. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2014.12.044
Kleppang, A. L., & Hagquist, C. (2016). The psychometric properties of the Hopkins symptom Checklist-10: A Rasch analysis based on adolescent data from Norway. Family Practice, 33(6), 740–745. https://doi.org/10.1093/fampra/cmw091
Kline, R. B. (2005). Principles and practice of structural equation modeling. The Guilford Press.
Kyei-Poku, I. (2019). The influence of fair supervision on employees’ emotional exhaustion and turnover intentions. Management Research Review, 42(9), 1116–1132. https://doi.org/10.1108/MRR-12-2018-0494
Li, J. J., Wong, I. A., & Kim, W. G. (2017). Does mindfulness reduce emotional exhaustion? A multilevel analysis of emotional labor among casino employees. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 64, 21–30. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhm.2017.03.008
Livne, Y., & Goussinsky, R. (2018). Workplace bullying and burnout among healthcare employees: The moderating effect of control-related resources. Nursing & Health Sciences, 20(1), 89–98. https://doi.org/10.1111/nhs.12392
Loh, M. Y., Idris, M. A., Dormann, C., & Muhamad, H. (2019). Organisational climate and employee health outcomes: A systematic review. Safety Science, 118, 442–452. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssci.2019.05.052
Lomas, T., Medina, J. C., Ivtzan, I., Rupprecht, S., & Eiroa-Orosa, F. J. (2018). A systematic review of the impact of mindfulness on the well-being of healthcare professionals. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 74(3), 319–355. https://doi.org/10.1002/jclp.22515
Lomas, T., Medina, J. C., Ivtzan, I., Rupprecht, S., & Eiroa-Orosa, F. J. (2019). Mindfulness-based interventions in the workplace: An inclusive systematic review and meta-analysis of their impact upon wellbeing. Journal of Positive Psychology, 14(5), 625–640. https://doi.org/10.1080/17439760.2018.1519588
Ma, Y., & Fang, S. (2019). Adolescents’ mindfulness and psychological distress: The mediating role of emotion regulation. Frontiers in Psychology, 10, 1358. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01358
MacDonald, H. Z., & Olsen, A. (2019). The role of attentional control in the relationship between mindfulness and anxiety. Psychological Reports, 123(3), 759–780. https://doi.org/10.1177/0033294119835756
Maslach, C., & Jackson, S. E. (1981). The measurement of experienced burnout. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 2(2), 99–113. https://doi.org/10.1002/job.4030020205
Maslach, C., & Leiter, M. P. (2008). Early predictors of job burnout and engagement. Journal of Applied Psychology, 93(3), 498–512. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.93.3.498
Maslach, C., & Leiter, M. P. (2016). Understanding the burnout experience: Recent research and its implications for psychiatry. World Psychiatry, 15(2), 103–111. https://doi.org/10.1002/wps.20311
Maslach, C., Schaufeli, W. B., & Leiter, M. P. (2001). Job burnout. Annual Review of Psychology, 52(1), 397–422. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.psych.52.1.397
Maxwell, S. E., Lau, M. Y., & Howard, G. S. (2015). Is psychology suffering from a replication crisis? What does "failure to replicate" really mean? American Psychologist, 70(6), 487–498. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0039400
Mesmer-Magnus, J., Manapragada, A., Viswesvaran, C., & Allen, J. W. (2017). Trait mindfulness at work: A meta-analysis of the personal and professional correlates of trait mindfulness. Human Performance, 30(2–3), 79–98. https://doi.org/10.1080/08959285.2017.1307842
Molina, A., & O’Shea, D. (2020). Mindful emotion regulation, savouring and proactive behaviour: The role of supervisor justice. Applied Psychology, 69(1), 148–175. https://doi.org/10.1111/apps.12206
Naseer, S., & Raja, U. (2019). Why does workplace bullying affect victims’ job strain? Perceived organization support and emotional dissonance as resource depletion mechanisms. Current Psychology, 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-019-00375-x
Nielsen, M. B., & Einarsen, S. V. (2018). What we know, what we do not know, and what we should and could have known about workplace bullying: An overview of the literature and agenda for future research. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 42, 71–83. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.avb.2018.06.007
Park, J., & Min, H. K. (2020). Turnover intention in the hospitality industry: A meta-analysis. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 90, 102599. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhm.2020.102599
Park, H., Oh, H., & Boo, S. (2019). The role of occupational stress in the association between emotional labor and mental health: A moderated mediation model. Sustainability, 11(7), 1886. https://doi.org/10.3390/su11071886
Pickard, J. A., Caputi, P., & Grenyer, B. F. (2016). Mindfulness and emotional regulation as sequential mediators in the relationship between attachment security and depression. Personality and Individual Differences, 99, 179–183. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2016.04.091
Pierce, J. R., & Aguinis, H. (2013). The too-much-of-a-good-thing effect in management. Journal of Management, 39(2), 313–338. https://doi.org/10.1177/0149206311410060
Podsakoff, P. M., MacKenzie, S. B., & Podsakoff, N. P. (2012). Sources of method bias in social science research and recommendations on how to control it. Annual Review of Psychology, 63, 539–569. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-psych-120710-100452
Posig, M., & Kickul, J. (2004). Work-role expectations and work family conflict: Gender differences in emotional exhaustion. Women in Management Review, 19(7), 373–386. https://doi.org/10.1108/09649420410563430
Power, J. L., Brotheridge, C. M., Blenkinsopp, J., Bowes-Sperry, L., Bozionelos, N., Buzády, Z., Chuang, A., Drnevich, D., Garzon-Vico, A., Leighton, C., Madero, S. M., Mak, W. M., Mathew, R., Monserrat, S. I., Mujtaba, B. G., Olivas-Lujan, M. R., Polycroniou, P., Sprigg, C. A., Axtell, C., et al. (2013). Acceptability of workplace bullying: A comparative study on six continents. Journal of Business Research, 66(3), 374–380. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2011.08.018
Preacher, K. J., & Hayes, A. F. (2008). Asymptotic and resampling strategies for assessing and comparing indirect effects in multiple mediator models. Behavior Research Methods, 40(3), 879–891. https://doi.org/10.3758/BRM.40.3.879
Purvanova, R. K., & Muros, J. P. (2010). Gender differences in burnout: A meta-analysis. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 77(2), 168–185. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvb.2010.04.006
Rai, A., & Agarwal, U. A. (2018). Examining workplace bullying-outcomes relationships among Indian managers. Employee Relations, 40(6), 1015–1035. https://doi.org/10.1108/ER-02-2017-0031
Reb, J., Narayanan, J., & Ho, Z. W. (2015). Mindfulness at work: Antecedents and consequences of employee awareness and absent-mindedness. Mindfulness, 6(1), 111–122. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-013-0236-4
Reb, J., Narayanan, J., Chaturvedi, S., & Ekkirala, S. (2017). The mediating role of emotional exhaustion in the relationship of mindfulness with turnover intentions and job performance. Mindfulness, 8(3), 707–716. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-016-0648-z
Salami, B., Dada, F. O., & Adelakun, F. E. (2016). Human resources for health challenges in Nigeria and nurse migration. Policy, Politics & Nursing Practice, 17(2), 76–84. https://doi.org/10.1177/1527154416656942
Salin, D. (2003). Ways of explaining workplace bullying: A review of enabling, motivating and precipitating structures and processes in the work environment. Human Relations, 56(10), 1213–1232. https://doi.org/10.1177/00187267035610003
Shepherd, B. R., Fritz, C., Hammer, L. B., Guros, F., & Meier, D. (2019). Emotional demands and alcohol use in corrections: A moderated mediation model. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 24(4), 438–449. https://doi.org/10.1037/ocp0000114
Stone-Romero, E. F., & Rosopa, P. J. (2008). The relative validity of inferences about mediation as a function of research design characteristics. Organizational Research Methods, 11(2), 326–352.
Tsuno, K., Kawachi, I., Kawakami, N., & Miyashita, K. (2018). Workplace bullying and psychological distress. Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, 60(12), 1067–1072. https://doi.org/10.1097/JOM.0000000000001433
Virgili, M. (2015). Mindfulness-based interventions reduce psychological distress in working adults: A meta-analysis of intervention studies. Mindfulness, 6(2), 326–337. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-013-0264-0
Waldeck, D., Tyndall, I., Riva, P., & Chmiel, N. (2017). How do we cope with ostracism? Psychological flexibility moderates the relationship between everyday ostracism experiences and psychological distress. Journal of Contextual Behavioral Science, 6(4), 425–432.
Watkins, E. R. (2018). Rumination-focused cognitive-behavioral therapy for depression. Guilford Publications.
Wheaton B., Young M., Montazer S., Stuart-Lahman K. (2013). Social stress in the twenty-first century. In C. S. Aneshensel, J. C. Phelan, & A. Bierman (Eds.) Handbook of the Sociology of Mental Health. Handbooks of Sociology and Social Research (pp 299–323). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-4276-5_15
WHO. (2019). Burn-out an “occupational phenomenon”: International classification of diseases. Geneva, Switzerland.
Williams, M., Meeten, F., & Whiting, S. (2018). “I had a sort of epiphany!” An exploratory study of group mindfulness-based cognitive therapy for older people with depression. Aging & Mental Health, 22(2), 208–217. https://doi.org/10.1080/13607863.2016.1247415
Woo, T., Ho, R., Tang, A., & Tam, W. (2020). Global prevalence of burnout symptoms among nurses: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of Psychiatric Research, 123, 9–20. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpsychires.2019.12.015
Zeller, J. M., & Levin, P. F. (2013). Mindfulness interventions to reduce stress among nursing personnel: An occupational health perspective. Workplace Health & Safety, 61(2), 85–89. https://doi.org/10.1177/216507991306100207
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
SWB: designed the study, analyzed the data, and collaborated in the writing of the study and editing of the final manuscript. OAO: collaborated with the design, execution, and writing of the study. JEI: collaborated in the writing and overall editing of the final manuscript. CT: collaborated in the writing and editing of the final manuscript. EA: collaborated in the design, material collection, and execution of the study. All authors approved the final version of the manuscript for submission.
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Ethical Approval
The manuscript does not contain clinical studies or patient data. All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.
Informed Consent
Informed consent was obtained from all participants included in the study before participation.
Conflict of Interest
The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Additional information
Publisher’s Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Bayighomog, S.W., Ogunmokun, O.A., Ikhide, J.E. et al. How and when mindfulness inhibits emotional exhaustion: a moderated mediation model. Curr Psychol 42, 9080–9094 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-021-02193-6
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-021-02193-6