Someone Must be Mindful: Trait Mindfulness as a Boundary Condition for Paradoxical Leader Behaviors

Abstract

Despite increased interest in the role of paradox in organizations, our understanding of paradoxical leader behavior (PLB) remains limited. We analyze PLB through the lens of cognitive dissonance theory and argue that trait mindfulness represents an important boundary condition shaping the effectiveness of PLB as a leadership style. This research sheds light on mindfulness and PLB, by investigating whether leader and follower trait mindfulness changes the impact of PLB on follower performance. Our analyses of multilevel, multisource, and multiphase data from 561 employees working in 54 teams show that PLB is positively related to follower performance when followers have high trait mindfulness. Furthermore, when followers and leaders are both low on trait mindfulness, PLB hurts follower performance. We thereby advance research on managing paradox, trait mindfulness, and the effectiveness of paradoxical leader behaviors for promoting follower performance.