An increasing number of employees, particularly those in frontline service roles, are experiencing a profound crisis of meaning in their work. However, research remains limited in exploring the negative psychological and behavioral consequences of work meaninglessness for frontline employees. These gaps in the literature are concerning, especially given the pivotal role of frontline employees, who often operate with limited direct supervision during service provision, but it is difficult for the organization to determine whether it is harmful to organizational interests. Building on Basic Psychological Need theory, we propose a moderated mediating model in which work meaninglessness exacerbates need frustration, subsequently leading to pro-customer deviance as a compensatory response to unmet psychological needs. Additionally, the three facets of mindfulness, including awareness, attention, and acceptance, are posited to attenuate the impact of work meaninglessness on need frustration. The model was validated through a recall-based experiment (n=164) and a three-wave survey (n=281). The results support both the direct and mediating hypotheses. While the moderation analysis revealed that only the acceptance facet of mindfulness buffered the negative impact of work meaninglessness. We provide a structured framework to examine work meaninglessness by introducing basic psychological need theory. We also expand the understanding of the downstream consequences of work meaninglessness, which provokes negative psychological outcomes and prompts employees to seek pro-customer deviance to cope with meaninglessness during service interactions. Additionally, our findings support the multidimensional framework of mindfulness, identifying acceptance as the sole effective component in mitigating the negative effects of work meaninglessness.
