Measuring Collective Mindfulness and Exploring Its Nomological Network

Abstract

Collective mindfulness was conceptualized as a prerequisite to achieving organizational reliability in the face of complexity and tight coupling. However, researchers have yet to measure collective mindfulness, precluding an assessment of its construct validity. In the current study I attempted to fill this gap by quantitatively measuring collective mindfulness and relating it to a number of characteristics and outcomes. I hypothesized that collective mindfulness can predict organizational reliability, with respect to safety and customer service quality. I also investigated the relationship between collective mindfulness and a number of constructs to begin assessing construct validity. The results of survey data collected from 182 employees, 570 customers, and 330 supervisor reports of 51 community swimming pools suggested that collective mindfulness can be measured in an organizational context and used to predict safety and customer service quality. Further, I found collective mindfulness to be related in expected ways with a number of constructs.