Exploring the pathways to enhanced task performance: the roles of supportive leadership, team psychological safety, and mindful organizing

Abstract

PurposeThe study investigated the predictive role of supportive leadership and psychological safety for mindful organizing and the subsequent impact of mindful organizing on individual task performance. Mindful organizing, a concept from high-reliability organizations (HROs), can improve performance in various industrial settings. The limited availability of novel predictors for mindful organizing necessitates exploring this concept in the context of adventure tourism.Design/methodology/approachThrough a cross-sectional research approach, 394 respondents were selected from the adventure tourism industry in Malaysia. The proposed causal research model was evaluated through structural equation modeling (SEM), aggregation and bootstrapping.FindingsPsychological safety and supportive leadership significantly impacted mindful organizing. Mindful organizing, in turn, was positively associated with individual task performance. The mediating role of mindful organizing between psychological safety and task performance was statistically significant. However, the mediating role of mindful organizing between supportive leadership and task performance was not statistically significant.Practical implicationsManagers in the adventure tourism industry should consider applying mindful organizing to increase employee productivity and develop collective sensemaking. Also, developing a culture of support among managers and coworkers, emphasizing the team's psychological safety, may boost the morale and productivity of the workforce.Originality/valueThis research has identified and empirically tested new antecedents, psychological safety and leadership for mindful organizing in the adventure tourism context and has addressed a significant research gap (Sutcliffe et al., 2016) by broadening the scope of mindful organizing research to encompass contexts beyond those exclusively considered HROs.