WHERE IS MY MIND? THEORIZING MIND WANDERING AND ITS PERFORMANCE-RELATED CONSEQUENCES IN ORGANIZATIONS

Although it is widely recognized that the human mind is prone to wander, some lines of research suggest that this tendency is costly and unfortunate, whereas others suggest that mind wandering is beneficial and adaptive. Accounting for these divergent perspectives and developing theory on mind wandering, I explore the nature and performance-related consequences of mind wandering in organizations. To this end, I argue that whether mind wandering contributes to or compromises task performance over time in work settings depends on its content-that is, the specific types of thoughts workers tend to generate as their minds wander. In making this case, I theorize relationships between various types of mind wandering content and task performance over time, specify mechanisms accounting for these relationships, and consider job-related boundary conditions. Together, the arguments presented here advance and reorient research on mind wandering and open new windows into cognition in organizations.