Introduction

Mindfulness is understood as a psychological state of consciousness in which individuals pay attention to the present moment with an accepting and nonjudgmental attitude (Bishop et al. 2004; Brown et al. 2007). Research on this topic is blossoming in recent years. There is increasing empirical evidence underscoring the beneficial effect of mindfulness on several important aspects of human life (Baer 2003). While researchers have long been keen on understanding how mindfulness may be developed through interventions (Chiesa and Serretti 2009), a complementary trait perspective is viewing mindfulness as a natural state of mind that differs between individuals (Brown and Ryan 2003). This conceptualization of trait mindfulness has been shown to be fruitful especially regarding the application of mindfulness to the organizational context. Trait mindfulness is important for work because it is associated with employee well-being and performance (Brown and Ryan 2003; Hülsheger et al. 2013; Shao and Skarlicki 2009; Weinstein et al. 2009). Another aspect that we know is an important driver of employee work-related well-being and performance is leadership. Decades of research in organizational psychology have yielded in a theoretically and empirically well-rounded understanding of effective and destructive leadership styles (Yukl 2010). At the forefront of effective leadership, transformational leadership captures behaviors such as communicating an inspiring vision, fostering team work, and providing individualized support that are designed to motivate followers to perform “beyond expectations” (Bass 1985). Several meta-analyses underscore the beneficial impact of transformational leadership on a plethora of employee outcomes (Judge and Piccolo 2004; Sturm et al. 2011). Since the early 2000s, researchers are also increasingly interested in investigating the destructive side of leadership. Destructive leadership behaviors such as humiliating subordinates, displaying hostility and aggression, or taking credit for follower work have a detrimental effect on followers’ attitudes and behaviors at work (Schyns and Schilling 2013). While mindfulness and leadership are both important for organizational life, research combining both fields is surprisingly scarce. As leadership research mainly focuses on outcomes of leadership, we still have a rather limited understanding regarding what makes a leader transformational or destructive (Bono and Judge 2004). Here, mindfulness may play an important role. There is preliminary indication that highly mindful leaders are more effective leaders compared to their lesser counterparts. Recent studies by Reb et al. (2014) and Pinck and Sonnentag (2017) revealed a positive relationship between leader mindfulness and follower outcomes. Still, what remains less clear is whether this may also be due to improved positive and decreased negative leadership driven by mindfulness. Accordingly, Reb et al. (2014) and Pinck and Sonnentag (2017) call for future research to link trait mindfulness with different traditional leadership concepts. This is where our study is positioned. The aim of the present study is to test trait mindfulness’s predictive validity regarding the emergence of transformational and destructive leadership. In so doing, this study contributes to the literature in several important ways. We refine existing findings regarding the mindfulness of leaders by establishing a link with specific leadership styles covering both positive and negative forms of leadership. This is theoretically important as through this, we contribute to research on leadership disposition. Practically this is relevant as it would provide organizations and leaders with an incentive to invest in mindfulness