Relationship between Mindfulness and Spiritual Intelligence among Bank Employees

Abstract

Although the components of mindfulness and spiritual intelligence may converge conceptually, few empirical researches have been conducted quantifying the relationship between these two constructs. This study aimed to find out the extent of association between mindfulness and spiritual intelligence among bank employees. It was hypothesized that the relationship between mindfulness and spiritual intelligence will be positive. The sample consisted of 120 bank employees working at a managerial position in various branches of State Bank of India, from the city of Lucknow and nearby districts (India). The minimum job experience of the participants was sixteen years,. Mindfulness was measured using the Mindful Attention Awareness Scale developed by Brown and Ryan (2003). The level of spiritual intelligence was assessed using the Spiritual Intelligence Self Report Inventory developed by King and Disico (2009). The data thus collected was analyzed using the Pearson product moment correlation analysis. Results revealed a statistically significant positive relationship between mindfulness and spiritual intelligence (r=0.28) (p value 0.01). Correlation analysis between mindfulness and the four sub scales of spiritual intelligence namely critical existential thinking, personal meaning production, conscious state expansion and transcendental awareness all revealed a low to moderately positive statistically significant relation. Thus, as the level of mindfulness increased, the levels of spiritual intelligence also increased and as the levels of mindfulness decreased, the level of spiritual intelligence also decreased. Future researches in this domain can attempt to find out the effect of mindfulness based intervention in enhancing individual's level of spiritual intelligence.