International Journal of Commerce and Finance, Vol. 7, Issue 2, 2021, 184-205 184 THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MINDFULNESS AND SELF-EFFICACY Çiğdem Şükran CEDE Istanbul Commerce University, Turkey Aylin GÖZEN Istanbul Commerce University, Turkey Submitted: 30.04.2021 Accepted: 28.10.2021 Published: 02.12.2021 Abstract This study was written to contribute to the literature regarding the relationship between mindfulness and self-efficacy. Mindfulness is a way of directing attention that is rooted in the Eastern meditation tradition. It has started to be discussed and applied more and more in Western culture. It is aimed to direct the mind's attention with a specific method in mindfulness meditation. On the other hand, Self-efficacy as the sub dimension of positive psychological capital focuses on the belief that a person will perform successfully in a specific area. Self efficancy considers the feeling of believing individual's self and abilities in a work or a situation. In this regard, the aim of this study is to examine the relationship between mindfulness and self-efficacy by conducting a literature review regarding those two concepts. As a result of the research, it is concluded that there is a positive and significant relationship between mindfulness and self-efficacy. Keywords: Mindfulness, Self-efficacy, Focusing, Awareness The Relationship Between Mindfulness and Self-Efficacy 185 1. Introduction Nowadays, the concepts of mindfulness and self-efficacy have started to attract attention throughout the world. When we review the literature, it has been observed that more research on mindfulness and self-efficacy have been started to be analyzed much more recently. It is seen that the concepts are being studied basically in the fields of educational sciences and psychology. Kabat-Zinn, the pioneering researcher of mindfulness, defines awareness as the state of mindfulness resulting from living in the present moment. In recent years, scientists have stated that mindfulness benefits people both physically and psychologically (Valanciene et al., 2020, p. 909). In order for the mindfulness process to occur, individuals need to have some specific features like self-efficacy. In this sense self-efficacy is the decision and belief of people in achieving the goal that they want to get. These decisions and beliefs are the skills that is determined as the success in dealing with adversity (Akçakanat and Köse, 2018, p. 19). In this regard the purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between mindfulness and self-efficacy by reviewing the literature since 1990s till today. First, the concepts related to mindfulness will be analysed and then the concepts related to self-efficacy will be considered and finally the studies considering those two concepts together will be discussed to understand the relation between them. 2. Literature Review 2.1. The Conceptual Framework of Mindfulness Mindfulness is defined as focusing on one’s attention to what is happening now, in a non - judgmental and accepting way (Kabat-Zinn, 1994). For many years, the concept of mindfulness has attracted attention and has been researched by many philosophers and scientists. The conceptual framework of mindfulness will be reviewed in this section. Çiğdem Şükran CEDE & Aylin GÖZEN 186 2.1.1. Definition of Mindfulness Mindfulness defined as paying attention to the present, is highly regarded for its usefulness from non-judgmental and deliberate experiences to create determination and unresponsiveness. Mindfulness is characterized by dispassionate, nonevaluative and sustained moment-to-moment awareness of perceptible mental states and processes. This includes continuous, immediate awareness of physical sensations, perceptions, affective states, thoughts, and imagery. Clinical settings are also accepted that mindfullness is crucially important for reducing stress and anxiety and at the same time increasing peace and well-being (Grossman et al., 2004, p.36). Mindfulness is not trying to do things, not striving to be a good person, not trying to control our actions, not trying to be kind and calm. “Mindfulness is our observation and witnessing every moment we live while continuing our ordinary life. It is defined as being able to say "I am happy now" if we are happy or "I am in discussion with my colleague right now" if we are discussing with someone” (Korkmaz, 2013, pp. 18-19). The three main characteristics of mindfulness as following (Jang et al., 2020, p. 813); i. Awareness of the actual situation. ii. Being aware of individualistic feelings and opinions. iii. Avoiding judgments about yourself and paying attention to the current situation without being distracted. Mindfulness can provide employees with physical, psychological and emotional resources and can help them cope with stress in the workplace. Working place mindfulness is a situation of intellect, a state where workers focus on what is happening while performing their duties (Zivnuska et al., 2015) (Jang et al., 2020, p. 813). Mindfulness is one of the necessary factors for the continuation of job performance at the desired level. Also, mindfulness has been defined as a psychological status in which one focuses to attention on incidents happening in the present moment (Karavardar, 2015). In a study, it was investigated the relationship between mindfulness and work-family balance and job performance in a manufacturing company operating in Istanbul. At the end of the study, it was found that there is a positive The Relationship Between Mindfulness and Self-Efficacy 187 relationship between mindfulness and job performance (Karavardar, 2015). In another study, employees of a call center working for a financial institution took part in a brief mindfulness- based reserach (MBI). Each day, during five consecutive weeks, they listened to two short guided meditation sessions using a headset at their workstation (10 min in the morning and 5 min after lunch). The result of this study was showed that mindfulness increased while psychological distress (stress, anxiety/depression, fatigue, and negative affect) decreased for all employees throughout the research, especially among those with low mindfulness scores at baseline (Gregoire and Lachance, 2015). 2.1.2. Ancient History of Mindfulness The construct of mindfulness originated in earliest Buddhist documents, it is neither religious nor esoteric in nature. Several Buddhist treatises detail an elaborate psychological theory of mind, in which mindfulness consistently plays a central role (Grossman et al., 2004, p. 36). Buddha is known as the teacher of the Buddhism since he lived in North India in the 6th century B.C. His teachings have been spread to all around the world. Buddha’s doctrines depend on four “Noble Truths”. According to the Buddha's teaching, the Four Noble Truths are Dukkha, Samudaya, Nirodha, Magga (Rahula, 1959; as cited in Kalafatoğlu, 2017, p. 3). These are as below; i. Dukkha: The first Noble Truth is Dukkha (The Noble Truth of Suffering). Suffering is a part of life and existence. In addition, Dukkha also includes ideas such as 'imperfection', 'impermanence', 'emptiness', 'insubstantiality'. ii. Samudaya: The second Noble Truth is the Arising of Dukkha. The source of sufferings are desire and requests. iii. Nirodha: The third Noble Truth is the Cessation of Dukkha. Suffering can be ended if request and desires are left. iv. Magga: The fourth Noble Truth is the way leading to the Cessation of Dukkha. The way to end suffering is through the Noble Eightfold path. These are; 1. Right Çiğdem Şükran CEDE & Aylin GÖZEN 188 Understanding, 2. Right Thought, 3. Right Speech, 4. Right Action 5. Right Livelihood, 6. Right Effort, 7. Right Mindfulness (Samma sati), 8. Right Concentration. Mindfulness as a technical term has its historical origins in the ancient Pali word Sati used by the Buddha in his teaching on mindfulness over 2600 years ago (Levey and Levey, 2018, p. 23). The term mindfulness derives from the Pali language word sati meaning “to remember” but as a mode of consciousness it commonly signifies presence of mind (Brown et al, 200, p. 212). First, this concept was translated as mindfulness to English by the English translator Rhys Davids in 1881, and by 1910 mindfulness had become the generally accepted norm (Levey and Levey, 2018, p. 24). In a life and thought governed by the Buddha’s teaching too, mindfulness (sati) has been mostly linked with clear comprehension of the right purpose or suitability of an action, and other considerations (Thera, 2008). The revolution of mindfulness from a traditional and religious-based structure to a more secular and universal dimension have been occurred as a result of specific processes (Aktepe and Tolan, 2020, p. 535). One of the important names in developing processes of mindfulness-based practice is Nyanaponika Thera. Thera was a German-born Buddhist monk who actively spread the teachings and practices of Buddhism until his death in 1994. The Buddhist monk mostly has focused on the influence of mindfulness on mental health and well-being, physical health, self-regulation, and interpersonal behavior (Moniz et al, 2015, p. 2). Another key person in roots of the modern mindfulness revolution in the West has been the Dalai Lama. He helped to bring the Mind and Life Institute, based in Hadley, Massachusetts in 1987. Mind and Life Institute has played an important role in spreading mindfulness and contemplative exercise throughout the world (Moniz et al, 2015, pp. 3-4). The pioneer researcher of mindfulness, Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn established the Center for Mindfulness in 1979 at the University of Massachusetts Medical School to treat chronic conditions for which The Relationship Between Mindfulness and Self-Efficacy 189 physicians could offer no further help. On the other hand, Mindfulness- Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program became a popular concept in the West by Jon Kabbat-Zinn with religious teachings of the East. Jon Kabat-Zinn has brought the concept of mindfulness to social sciences, medicine and the daily life. Mindfulness has been a main direction of Buddhist inner training for ages. Mindfulness practice has started to attract interest in the 1970s as a herapeutic appliance to help medical patients managing chronic illnesses. About twenty years later, Weick and Roberts have presented mindfulness into the management literature (they have been inspired by Langer and co-workers’ research) but their conception of mindfulness is completely different from Buddhist conceptions. As Weick and Roberts explained mindfulness is connected to preferable working place function by positively affecting overall employee functioning, such as “attention, cognition, emotions, behaviors and physiology” (Good et al., 2016, pp. 115-116). Within the research, there are two main movements of mindfulness literature which are the Eastern movement and the Western movement. The Eastern movement, popularized by Jon Kabat-Zinn and colleagues in the 1970s, emphasizes experiential processing of information supported by meditation. The Western movement, popularized by Ellen Langer and co- workers in the 1970s, analyzes mindfulness as a mental manner, in a cognitive mission, well- being, and health and also it is not connected with meditation (Hart et al., 2013, p. 453). The research literature does not typically combine the Western and Eastern versions of mindfulness. The Western stream is more prominent in psychology and organizational science and the Eastern movement is more prominent in clinical and medical research. The research on mindfulness in organization science began with Langer’s conceptualization in the 1990s (Weick et al, 1999). As the research in the Eastern movement gained in popularity, organizational researchers began considering both of them (Bowers, 2018). Çiğdem Şükran CEDE & Aylin GÖZEN 190 2.1.3. Features of Mindfulness Features of mindfulness are stated in the literature as observation, identification, conscious action and accepting without judgment (Baer et al., 2004, p. 193). i. Observation: It is defined as feeling the body and emotions, awareness of stimuli such as smell and hearing and being able to pay attention to them. ii. Identification: It is the direct verbal expression of experiences without any judgment. iii. Conscious Action: It is explained as focusing on the current situation by completely entering into a movement or thought. iv. Accepting without Judgment: It is stated as accepting without criticism such as good and evil, righteousness and wrongness, worthiness, and worthlessness. 2.1.4. Fundamental Attributes of Mindfulnes Practices It is the state of being aware of mindfulness practices that not evaluated as good or bad, right or wrong (Hayes and Wilson, 2003, p. 164). The main characteristics of the mindfulness moments are as follows (Germer, 2004, p. 27); i. Non-Conceptual: Mindfulness is the state of being conscious, which consists of non-locking processes related to thought. ii. The Focus on Present Moment: Mindfulness is the state of present moment. iii. Non-Judgemental: Mindfulness is defined as accepting our experiences without criticism. iv. Purposive: The purpose of mindfulness is to direct consciousness to a sound, an object, a thought at the present moment. v. Participatory Observation: Mindfulness is to witness that moment and watch it with spiritually, physically and thought. vi. Non-Verbal: Mindfulness does not need any words. A state of awareness arises before words are formed in mind. The Relationship Between Mindfulness and Self-Efficacy 191 vii. Exploration: It expresses, what is to realize and to discover at the moment. viii. Liberation: It expresses the state of freedom of feelings such as sorrow, happiness and fear in every minute of the mindfulness moment. The mindfulness features mentioned above appear in moments of mindfulness. These are expressed as the basic characteristics of mindfulness practices (Germer, 2004, p. 28). Mindfulness become aware of situations that are happening now. It is aimed to increase awareness with mindfulness exercises (Germer, 2004, p. 25). 2.1.5. Fundamental Attitudes of Mindfulness The concepts and practices of mindfulness reveal the fundamental attitudes of awareness. The basic behaviors of mindfulness are defined in seven categories. These are as follows (Kabat- Zinn, 1990): i. Non-Judging: Humans are able to see that they are in constant criticism and judgment when they look at their life. These judgments can be for everything; it can be an emotion, an observation, a situation and friends. People can make bad judgments about what they do not like and feel unwell while they judge well for the things they like. However, persons can be acted ineffective in non-emotion state. If they judge anything, they should become aware of immediately. Instead of stopping this with mindfulness exercises, they need to understand that they are aware of this. ii. Acceptance: Mindfulness based acceptance means understanding the negativities in the life. For example, it can be a negative emotion like losing one of family member. Most of the time, people can go through processes such as denial and anger before accepting it. These situations cause unnecessary power loss. Acceptance is an important part of well-being. iii. Patience: Patience can be defined that timed situation and acceptance of it. Untimely actions keep their impatient. For this reason, people need to be patient Çiğdem Şükran CEDE & Aylin GÖZEN 192 on mindfulness. Tolerant person is being clear to the minute of every hour and seeing it as an experience. iv. Beginner's Mind: The beginner’s mind allows people to be open and clear about new situations. Every process has a different moment and all of experiences are different and unique. The beginner’s mind helps to remember this fact. v. Trust: Self-confidence is important in the exercise process while applying mindfulness exercises. While practicing mindfulness, emphasis is placed on being one's self, listening to and trusting one's own existence. The person develops this confidence in his own existence so it will be easier to trust other people and see their goodness. vi. Non-Striving: Individuals generally live to achieve a goal in their life. It is not quite right to apply them in mindfulness exercises. They need to allow watching theirselves more clearly while they meditate and they can only achieve this by being non-striving. If persons focus on doing the good while practicing mindfulness, they think that they are not doing something well and they try to be good. In this sense, it prevents attention at present moment. vii. Letting Go: The letting go approach forms the basis of mindfulness meditation. When one's individual begins to pay attention to inner experiences, it is understood that there are certain thoughts and emotional states that the mind wants to control. If it is pleasant, an effort is made to maintain these thoughts, feelings, or situations and to live them over and over again. On the contrary, there are many thoughts, feelings and experiences that are trying to protected. In such cases, person need to live in the moment and leave everything while doing this exercise. The Relationship Between Mindfulness and Self-Efficacy 193 2.2. The Conceptual Framework of Self-Efficacy 2.2.1. Definition of Self-Efficacy As Albert Bandura explains that self-efficacy is human’s beliefs and decisions about their abilities. On the other hand, it considers the feeling of believing individual's self and abilities in a work or a situation (Sığrı and Gürbüz, 2019, p. 107). Self-efficacy has defined as people’s belief in own abilities to cope with difficult processes and complicated jobs. In other words, self-efficacy is people’s beliefs in their capabilities to perform a specific action required to attain a desired outcome (Luszczynska et al., 2005, p. 439). People with low self-efficacy feel desperate and this leads to decrease in their performance. However, it is stated that people with high self-efficacy tend to be future orientated, take effective course of action, and in turn self- efficacy is enhanced. In addition, this situation is positively affected in people with high self- efficacy and strengthens motivation. For this reason, the degree of self-efficacy influences mental situation either positively or negatively (Marat, 2003, p. 2). As Bandura stated that self-efficacy refers to people’s judgment of their capabilities to mobilize the motivation, cognitive resources, and courses of action needed to meet given situational demands. It has been a strong and consistent relationship between self-efficacy and performance in areas such as sales, proactive behavior and work-related performance (Carter et al., 2018, pp. 2483-2484). A study has been conducted to evaluate the effects of employee engagement and self-efficacy on job performance within an Australian financial services firm by Carter, et al. As a result of the research, it is stated that there is a positive and strong relationship between self-efficacy and employee engagement with job performance (Carter et al., 2018, p. 2499). 2.2.2. The Processes of Self-Efficacy Self-efficacy is at the central of social cognitive theory. In other words, As Bandura defines that self-efficacy is what people thinking, belief and feel affects on their behavior (Bandura, Çiğdem Şükran CEDE & Aylin GÖZEN 194 1994, p. 1). According to Albert Bandura; self-efficacy beliefs affect human behaviors through four processes which are cognitive, motivational, emotional and selection. These are as below; i. Cognitive Processes: Self-efficacy impresses cognitive processes both positively and negatively. Strong and poor self-efficacy beliefs play an important role in setting personal goals. People with high self-efficacy beliefs determine high targets and committed to them, also their performance has been high because of believing that they are successful. People with low self-efficacy believe the tasks to be more difficult than they actually are and impair their performance with failed scenarios. It can be said that cognitive processes are related to mind and thinking (Bandura, 1997, pp. 116-118). ii. Motivational Processes: The self-efficacy of beliefs play an important role in motivation. Humans with high self-efficacy choose the difficult ones while making a task selection and to believe that they will successfully fulfill their duties because of their high motivation (Tarakcı, 2019, p. 73). On the other hand, people with high self-efficacy spend more effort when faced with difficulties, while people with low self-efficacy give up instead of struggling (Kyzy, 2016, p. 8). iii. Emotional Processes: The self efficacy plays a key role in the affective processes. It can be said that there is a relationship between emotional states and self-efficacy. While people's negative emotions decrease their self-efficacy perceptions, on the contrary having positive emotions increases their self- efficacy levels (Bandura, 1994, p. 3). People with high levels of self-efficacy are in positive emotions because of their anxiety and fear levels are low. However, individuals with low levels of self-efficacy have been in negative thoughts and stress (Bandura, 1997, p. 137). iv. Selection Processes: People form their social environment with their selections, they have positive results if their preferences are positive and they reach negative The Relationship Between Mindfulness and Self-Efficacy 195 results if their preferences are negative. Individuals with high levels of self- efficacy have positive choices while person with low self-efficacy have negative choices. For example, high self-efficacy in profession-related choices have provided the right choices (Bandura, 1994, p. 78). 2.2.3. The Sources of Self-Efficacy As it is mentioned in the literature the main sources of self-efficacy are mastery experience, vicarious experience, verbal persuasion, physiological and emotional states as mentioned below (Bandura, 1994, p. 3; as cited in Kemp, 2011, p. 134); i. Mastery Experience: Individuals might have achieved successful or unsuccessful results in their past experiences. If they are successful, they think that they will achieve the same success again when they encounter similar situations related to the jobs they have accomplished, which increases their self- efficacy. On the other hand, they feel unsuccessful because of having negative experiences in the jobs they failed. This causes a decrease in the self-efficacy of the people when they encounter a similar situation. ii. Vicarious Experience: Individuals think that they will be successful in those tasks by being affected the processes the people who are successful. These situations enable people to be brave and having high self-efficacy. Similiarly, if anybody has a failure, it causes a decrease in self-efficacy beliefs (Pajares, 2002, p. 123). Vicarious experience is not as influential as are personal experience (Bandura, 1997). However, in some situations the observation of a sample person can override the effect of mastery experiences. iii. Verbal Persuasion: Verbal persuasion is a weak source of self-efficacy. It is a skill that is used to encourage an individual to do things that he or she believes, for whatever reason, that he or she cannot do. Also, it can be defined as appraisal or evaluative feedback from others. People could be motivated that they have the Çiğdem Şükran CEDE & Aylin GÖZEN 196 skills and capabilities to succeed. If individuals are successful, their self-efficacy increases. If they fail, it causes them to be unhappy and to have a decrease in their self-efficacy level (Bandura, 1994, p. 3; as cited in Gruber, 2011, p. 31). Bandura has explained that people can be persuaded to believe that they have skills and abilities necessary to succeed in tasks given to them. These are often tasks that people want to do but they fear that they do not possess the required skills (Bandura, 1994). iv. Physiological and Emotional States: Physiological and emotional states play an important role in self-efficacy. Moods, emotional states, physical reactions and stress levels can all impact on how a person feels about their personal capabilities to a particular situation. Negative emotions (anxiety, fear, stress, excitement, etc.) can negatively affect the self-efficacy level of that person which was higher before the situation they would experience. In a negative experience, generally the people think that their self-efficacy level is low instead of thinking that these negative emotions are the main reasons. This can lead to a further decrease in the self-efficacy of the person (Bandura, 1997, p. 5). As Bandura defines that “it is not the sheer intensity of emotional and physical reactions that is important but rather how they are perceived and interpreted” (Bandura, 1994, p. 80). Unfortunately, individuals often equate their physiological state with poor performance, incompetence, and failure. People can be improved their sense of self-efficacy by learning how to minimise stress and elevate mood when facing difficult or challenging situations. 3. The Relationship Between Mindfulness and Self-Efficacy In Eastern philosophy, where mindfulness originated, mindfulness is thought to promote insight into the notion that emotions are transitory and constantly changing, which naturally The Relationship Between Mindfulness and Self-Efficacy 197 yields courage, fearlessness, and a sense of freedom and power in the ability to shape one’s own life (Luberto et al., 2013, p. 374). Self-efficacy is thought to be particularly salient with respect to sustained performance following adversity or failure. However, mindfulness may inhibit the tendency to extend failure or adversity into the future as reflective of a broader conceptualization of the self. Similarly, mindfulness may promote resilience by fostering positive coping strategies, such as positive reappraisal. Positive reappraisal has been defined as "an adaptive process by which stressful events are reinterpreted as benign, valuable or beneficial" and is a cognitive coping strategy that is regularly used to steer negative events such as traumatic exposure (Hanley et al., 2015, p. 333). Mindfulness is related with feelings of empowerment and confidence. People with high level of mindfulness might be generally anticipated to help gain better control of their thoughts and feelings and improve their self-efficacy (Hosseinzadeh et al., 2019, p. 2). There is a positive relationship between self-efficacy and mindfulness outcomes. Furthermore, mindfulness plays a mediating role in the relationship between self-efficacy and EMSs (Hosseinzadeh et al., 2019, p. 3). As Keil has documented the major relationship between mindfulness and self-efficacy within clinical supervisors. In addition, Keil defended that anxiety and self-efficacy are two elements that alone have a positive influence on supervisor content, and that the supervisor’s level of mindfulness effects these elements and leads to the positive performance of the supervisors with regard to their clients (Keil, 2016, p. 4). Greason and Cashwell have analyzed the impact of mindfulness on the self-efficacy of counseling. Counselors’ self-efficacy is an significant integral of counselor improving. The Çiğdem Şükran CEDE & Aylin GÖZEN 198 results of their research found that mindfulness influences counselors’ attention, empathy and stress reduction and also raises their self-efficacy importantly. Furthermore, As a result of the research, a significant positive correlation was found between counseling self-efficacy, awareness, attention and empathy (Greason and Cashwell, 2009, pp. 1;10). In the same way, many researchers have detected the effects of mindfulness and self-efficacy. Mindfulness is one way to increase one’s sense of self-efficacy. However, mindfulness is not the only way to improve levels of stress and sense of self-efficacy. On the other hand researchers have examined the effect of professional learning on self-efficacy. Overall, the literature has showed that mindfulness increases of self-efficacy (Gardner, 2018, pp. 28-29). As a result, assorted researchers have founded that mindfulness has a positive relationship with self-efficacy. There is a relationship between mindfulness and with self-efficacy, and also increasing mindfulness has affected the increase of self-efficacy. As a matter of fact, it has been documented in many studies that there is a direct relationship between mindfulness and self-efficacy. 3.1. Researches on Mindfulness and Self-Efficacy This part includes researches on the relationship between mindfulness and self-efficacy. It is seen that many studies have been conducted when studies on mindfulness and self-efficacy are examined. It has been observed that these studies are especially investigated on educational sciences and psychology. Those are as below, In a study conducted with graduate students in 2009, it was investigated whether mindfulness is a tool between anxiety and counseling self-efficacy. In the study, it was concluded that the relationship between mindfulness and counseling self-efficacy was positive. However, mindfulness was found to be a tool in finding the relationship between counselor anxiety and self-efficacy (Hall, 2009, pp. 90-91). The Relationship Between Mindfulness and Self-Efficacy 199 Participants were 180 undergraduate psychology students. Participants included 147 self- identified Caucasians (82 %), 21 African-Americans (12 %), 8 Asians (5 %), and 3 others (2 %). Eight participants (5 %) reported Hispanic ethnicity. Relationships between mindfulness, self-efficacy and emotion regulation difficulties were examined in the study conducted on the students. As a result, it was observed that progress with mindfulness is a relation with self- efficacy (Luberto et al., 2013, pp. 375-376). The relationship between mindfulness, positive re-evaluation and self-efficacy was examined with 243 university students (average age of participants was 20 and mainly female (85%). Majority White/Caucasian (75%), Black/African American (10%) or Latino 10%). As a result; it has been stated that acting with mindfulness affects self-efficacy positively and significantly (Hanley et al., 2015, pp. 333-335). In this study involving 22 students, the relationship between mindfulness experiential small groups (MESG), mindfulness skills, empathy, self-efficacy counseling and stress reduction was investigated. As a result of the experiment, it was found that there is a significant positive relationship between MESG, mindfulness skills, empathy and self-efficacy counseling (Bohecker and Horn, 2016, pp. 314;329). As mentioned above, many studies have documented a direct relationship between mindfulness and self-efficacy. Moreover, they concluded that there is positive and significant relationship between the concepts of mindfulness and self-efficacy. 4. Conclusion Mindfulness is defined as a mental state based on appreciating present inner experiences, paying attention to what is happening now, recognizing the quality of this attention and accepting what is distinguished without judgment (Kabat- Zinn, 2009). Mindfulness is Çiğdem Şükran CEDE & Aylin GÖZEN 200 described as “the awareness that emerges through paying attention, on purpose, in the present moment and non-judgmentally to the unfolding of the experience moment by moment” (Kabat- Zinn, 2003b, pp. 145). On the other hand, self-efficacy is a belief in achieving any desired outcome and the ability to cope with them, particularly person's confidence in ability to deal effectively with difficult events. According to the self-efficacy theory, one's beliefs about the ability to successfully perform a behavior whether the individual will participate in it and how much effort will be make into it (Luberto et al., 2013, p. 374). It has been stated that developing mindfulness of one's own self and environment in order to regulate thoughts and emotions is related to self-efficacy (Greason and Cashwell, 2009). The motivation of people with high levels of mindfulness and self-efficacy is considerd to be higher than the others. Highly motivated individuals think that they will complete all tasks successfully and they have high self-efficacy. It is concluded that these people are successful in their daily life. Self-efficacy plays an important role as having a positive correlation with performance attainment in achievements. In this study, the concepts of mindfulness and self-efficacy have been theoretically investigated and also the scientific studies have been examined. As a result, in accordance with the literature review it can be stated that there is positive and significant relationship between mindfulness and self-efficacy. In addition, future studies should account for examining the mindfulness and self-efficacy of employees. A deep study on each of mindfulness and self- efficacy of employees is recommended. The Relationship Between Mindfulness and Self-Efficacy 201 References Akçakanat, T., & Köse, S. (2018), ‘‘Bilinçli Farkındalık (Mindfulness): Kavramsal Bir Araştırma’’ Uluslararası İşletme, Ekonomi ve Yönetim Perspektifleri Dergisi. pp. 16-28 (accessed 02 January 2021). Aktepe, İ., & Tolan, Ö. (2020), ‘‘Bilinçli Farkındalık: Güncel Bir Gözden Geçirme. 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