Mindfulness as a Predictor of Work Engagement beyond Job Demands and Resources: Evidence from IT Professionals in Kolkata

Description

Amrita Ray¹, Moumita Mukherjee², and Atanu Kumar Dogra³ (Department of Psychology, SoHMS, Adamas University Kolkata, West Bengal¹, Research and Development, Adamas University Kolkata, West Bengal², and Department of Psychology, University of Calcutta, West Bengal³)

The concept of work engagement, which is understood to be a combination of vigor, dedication, and absorption has been widely researched in the Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) framework. Though the job demands and resources are well-developed predictors of engagement, there is emerging evidence that mindfulness could be unique in enhancing engagement. The current study thus tested a hypothesis that mindfulness is a predictor of work engagement beyond and above job demands and job resources among the information technology workers in Kolkata. In this regard, the predictors were included in a hierarchical manner: in Model 1, job demands were included; in Model 2, job resources were included; and in Model 3, mindfulness dimensions were included together with the antecedent predictors. Findings showed that work engagement had a high percentage of variance explained by job demands and resources, with an additional significant percentage variance of mindfulness added on to those components. These results confirm the predictive power of mindfulness that is additive and emphasize the necessity of considering mindfulness-based practices in workplace well-being interventions and the process of designing organizational policies.