Chapter 5: Mindfulness and Management

Mindfulness in management practice has become increasingly important, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, which has brought unprecedented challenges, uncertainty, and stress to individuals and organisations worldwide. Incorporating mindfulness can offer several benefits, such as stress reduction, improved decision-making, enhanced emotional intelligence and increased resilience. This chapter sought to explore the longitudinal impact of academic publications on management and mindfulness before, during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. Thus, a bibliometric analysis from 2013 to 2023 was conducted using R Studio and Bibliometrix. 456 articles were analysed over these ten years, with descriptive statistics presented and the thematic evolution tool used to view the conceptual structures over time. The results demonstrated a significant increase in publications year-on-year, while the thematic evolution mirrored the phases before, during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. Before the pandemic, there was a predominant emphasis on understanding mindfulness and its benefits, mainly focussing on adolescents and young adults. However, as we transition into the post-pandemic era, there is a noticeable shift in attention towards adults, specifically in the context of employee mental health concerns arising from factors like isolation during lockdowns. The strategic integration of mindfulness practices underscores the importance for workplaces to consider mindfulness a crucial aspect of human resources management. This shift is apparent in the growing body of literature, the evolving conceptual framework that now centres around employees and a heightened awareness of mental health issues.