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Introduction
Interest in mindfulness – defined by some scholars as both a mental state and as a trait comprising “a receptive attention to and awareness of present events and experience” (Brown et al., 2007, p. 212) – has seen a dramatic increase in interest from practitioners and researchers in academic, business, military, and healthcare fields in recent years (Good et al., 2015; Knapton, 2014; Hülsheger et al., 2013; Wolever et al., 2012). For example, the American Mindfulness Research Association reports over 4,700 references to mindfulness research in articles published in academic journals, and the presence of mindfulness-related activity has been reported at 79 percent of US medical schools (Barnes et al., 2016). It is important to note, however, that issues relating to the consistent design of control groups in mindfulness studies remain unresolved, as well as questions relating to standard definitions, and methods of measurement (Toneatto and Nguyen, 2007; Van Dam et al., 2017). In addition, the field of study is lacking a generally accepted theoretical model, measurement scale, and agreement on how mindfulness is defined (Van Dam et al., 2017).
While mindfulness training activity is often oriented toward employee health issues, such as stress reduction (Gelles, 2012; Wolever et al., 2012), a significant portion is also aimed at developing leadership effectiveness. For example, General Mills began an extensive leadership development mindfulness program in 1995, and the Institute for Mindful Leadership reports having trained leaders from more than 60 organizations (Marturano, 2014). Studies report beneficial effects on mental focus, academic performance, and emotional intelligence (EI) (Jha et al., 2007; Mrazek et al., 2013; Tang et al., 2014), as well as indications of a positive relationship to employee work engagement (Leroy et al., 2013) and specific aspects of job performance (Dane and Brummel, 2014; Glomb et al., 2011; Dane, 2011).
Research indicates that mindfulness training may be linked to positive increases in gray matter density, which is an indicator of increased function in brain regions relating to emotional regulation, memory, and learning (Hölzel et al., 2011; Chambers et al., 2009; Koole, 2009). It is difficult, however, to calculate effect sizes from neuroimaging data (Fox et al., 2014, 2016), and linking...