Title Page MINDFULNESS: INVESTIGATING A POTENTIAL RESOURCE FOR RESILIENCE AGAINST WORKPLACE EGO DEPLETION by CHRISTOPHER J. LYDDY Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Organizational Behavior Weatherhead School of Management CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY August, 2016 CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES We hereby approve the thesis/dissertation of Christopher J. Lyddy candidate for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy* Committee Chair Dr. John Paul Stephens Committee Member Dr. Ronald Fry Committee Member Dr. David Cooperrider Committee Member Dr. Heath Demaree Date of Defense June 14, 2016 *We also certify that written approval has been obtained for any proprietary material contained therein. 2 Table of Contents List of Tables .................................................................................................................. 4 List of Figures ................................................................................................................ 5 Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................ 6 Abstract .......................................................................................................................... 9 Chapter 1: Mindfulness, Self-Regulation, and Ego Depletion: Theorizing Their Interconnections ........................................................................................... 11 Chapter 2: The Eye of the Storm: Mindfulness Practice and Ego Conservation Under Adversity ...................................................................................................... 42 Chapter 3: Selfless Esteem?: Mindfulness as a Shield Against Self-Esteem Threat and Ego Depletion ....................................................................................... 120 Chapter 4: Selfless Regulation: Mindfulness as a Shield Against Ego Depletion and Workplace Self-Regulation Failure .............................................................. 140 Appendix A: Interview Protocol .................................................................................... 163 Bibliography .................................................................................................................. 185 3 List of Tables Table 1: Demographic Characteristics Of Interviewees ................................................ 166 Table 2: Job Demands At Metrohealth .......................................................................... 167 Table 3: Dysregulation Themes ..................................................................................... 169 Table 4: Mindful Regulation Themes ............................................................................ 171 Table 5: Juxtaposition Of Dysregulation And Mindful Regulation Themes ................. 173 Table 6: Means, Standard Deviations, And Correlations Among Variables .................. 174 Table 7: Coefficient Estimates Of The Mediated Moderation Model, With Mediators As Dependent Variables .................................................................. 175 Table 8: Coefficient Estimates Of The Moderated Mediation Model ............................. 176 Table 9: Conditional Indirect Effects Of Feedback On Ego Depletion ......................... 177 4 List of Figures Figure 1: Grounded Model Of Workplace Dysregulation ............................................. 178 Figure 2: Grounded Model Of Mindfulness-Supported Workplace Regulation ........... 179 Figure 3: Hypothesized Model ...................................................................................... 180 Figure 4: Interactive Effects Of Feedback And Mindfulness On State Self-Esteem ..... 181 Figure 5: Interactive Effects Of Feedback And Mindfulness On Emotional Valence ... 182 Figure 6: Interactive Effects Of Feedback And Mindfulness On Ego Depletion .......... 183 Figure 7: Moderated Mediation Model Results ............................................................. 184 5 Acknowledgements While completing the long road of finalizing a dissertation, I have felt enormously blessed to have the support and kindness of so many fine people. I am deeply appreciative of so many people who have been the wind at my back along the way. Words cannot express my gratitude to my advisors David Kolb and John Paul Stephens for their unrelenting support in exploring the workplace implications of mindfulness. It is truly rare to find freedom to explore and express a new topic within academia, but I simply could not have pressed forward without their continuous engagement, insightful feedback, and probing questions. A heartfelt thank you also goes out to each of my dissertation committee members for their efforts guiding my work and lifting my spirits with their unique talents, including Ronald Fry for his deep wisdom and even deeper questions; David Cooperrider for continuously inspiring me to appreciate the practical realities of my work; and Heath Demaree for being as adept and cheerful in guiding my initial attempts at conducting laboratory experiments as he was patient. I cannot imagine surviving the doctoral process, either intellectually or personally, without two extraordinary wing-people, Tiffany Schroeder and Darren Good. My first moments at Case were, in retrospect, great bonding experiences with both of you that were just small omens of the wonderful things to come. I wish I had words to properly express my gratitude to and connection with you both. Simply put, you two are incredible colleagues and peers, and even more importantly, my family! There have been so many other faculty, staff, and students who have been so helpful and generous with their time, I thank you all. I want to thank: Paul Salipante for wonderful mentorship and qualitative training; Diana Bilimoria, for providing strong 6 coaching around teaching and being so supportive of me throughout her tenure as chair; Malia Mason, Adam Galinsky, Cynthia Wang, David Creswell, Jagdip Singh, Andrew Hafenbrack, and Kirk Warren Brown for their feedback and more on my quantitative study; Jeremy Hunter, Patton Hyman, Kell Julliard, John Cunningham, and Tara Healey for strong encouragement and connection to the practical world of mindfulness training; Rebecca Henderson, Richard Locke, and Jason Jay for helping me to gain traction in the field of management; our JOM authorship team for taking the leap and trying to distill the vast literature on mindfulness into a simple and intelligible framework for management, including Darren Good, Theresa Glomb, Joyce Bono, Kirk Warren Brown, Michelle Duffy, Judson Brewer, Ruth Baer, and Sara Lazar; Corinne Coen and Diane Bergeron for never-ending guidance and encouragement; Lila Robinson for her good charm while tirelessly stewarding me smoothly through the myriad administrative systems of Case Western; and the many great students with whom I shared time, ideas, resources, struggles, and a few too many hospital visits, including in no particular order, Emily Amdurer, Anna Perlmutter, Njoke Thomas, Phil Thompson, Brodie Boland, Angela Passarelli, Andrew Schnackenberg, ‘Alim Beveridge, Garima Sharma, Weylin Burlingame, and an extra-special thank you to Aron Lindberg. Finally, I could not have been blessed with a more supportive and loving family, who provided me with the psychological resources to keep me from becoming (too) depleted and staying intentional while finishing my doctorate. Sagree, Amiti, Mom, Dad, Carolina, Mike, Mummy, Chunchun, Jean, Tim, Massi, and Masaji, I cannot say how much I love you all! And to my beloved Sagree, I am forever grateful to your incredible unrelenting love coupled with an ability to talk with me at any time of day or night, your 7 skill at writing 10,000 words with one picture, simultaneously getting to the heart of both my work and me, and being the eye in many storms. 8 Mindfulness: Investigating a Potential Resource for Resilience Against Workplace Ego Depletion Abstract by CHRISTOPHER J. LYDDY Mindfulness, the psychological quality of enhanced and accepting present- moment attention often cultivated via meditation, has been increasingly linked to effective individual self-regulation in organizational contexts. In particular, it may help avert ego depletion, a temporary inability to resist maladaptive impulses that undermine goal realization. Ego depletion may be particularly likely and harmful in adverse organizational environments that demand and drain self-control resources. To explore whether mindfulness practices may act as a resource helping to avert ego depletion, I conducted two studies of individuals facing workplace adversity. An interview study of 26 health system workers receiving mindfulness training revealed that their routine and extraordinary challenges, including Hurricane Sandy recovery, provoked widespread dysregulation. Within this environment, mindfulness provided a portfolio of psychological resources that helped avert ego depletion. A laboratory study of 117 college students demonstrated that mindfulness diminished ego depletion while facing the workplace challenge of negative performance feedback. Randomly assigning brief mindfulness practice prior to receiving negative feedback averted self-esteem loss and associated ego depletion. Jointly, these studies provide evidence that mindfulness 9 confers psychological resources that mitigate ego depletion and foster self-control while facing workplace adversity. These findings have implications for understanding