The relationship between mindfulness, strategic decision process and small business performance

This dissertation investigates how small businesses manage the unexpected and avoid catastrophic mistakes. Much like "high reliability" organizations, small businesses cannot afford lapses in reliability because small mistakes can easily become catastrophic. Research suggests that high reliability organizations exhibit the characteristics of mindfulness. This dissertation examines the effect organizational mindfulness has on small business decision processes and firm performance. In a study of 102 small businesses, results show that individual owner mindfulness is related to organizational mindfulness and the quality of strategic decision processes. Additionally, results indicate that the quality of strategic decision process mediates the relationship between organizational mindfulness and performance.