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The purpose of this paper is to provide empirical evidence of engineering knowledge creation in the context of product failure management, thereby extending knowledge about organizational learning and mindfulness to a largely unexplored context. The study addresses a gap in the literature by illustrating “engineering epistemology” as a critical knowledge asset that gives rise to superior problem solving – and potentially – superior business performance.

The authors conducted qualitative research based on phenomenological interviews with product engineers to generate a grounded theory about organizational knowledge creation. Rigorous analysis of narratives detailing the “lived lives” of problem solvers relied on a research protocol recommended by Corbin and Strauss.

The findings show that engineers' real‐world problem‐solving practices mirror Nonaka and Takeuchi's five phases of knowledge creation and the three stages of sensemaking in enactment theory, the genesis of Weick's notion of mindfulness. A synthesized model illustrates how a five‐step problem‐solving process facilitated by environmental conditions resulting in organizational learning is influenced by an “engineering epistemology”.

The sample was limited to engineers based primarily in the US Midwest. While the authors' methodology (grounded theory) was appropriate for theory generation, the results invite quantitative testing involving a larger and more diversified sample of engineers.

The paper highlights the social aspects of engineering problem solving that firms can optimize for effective problem investigation and higher organizational learning.

The paper conceptualizes problem‐solving teamwork as epistemic collaboration, with the often un‐optimized potential of generating organizational learning. It is, to the authors' knowledge, the first research to concentrate on modeling the dynamics of knowledge creation in an engineering problem‐solving context.

The purpose of this introductory paper is a harbinger to the collection of scholarly articles by some well‐known international scholars in quality and business fields to this special edition of IJQRM on mindfulness and quality in small and large firms. It also provides an analysis of existing research on mindfulness in general.

Through a survey of secondary data, this conceptual paper reviews the theory and extant literature on mindfulness, quality and reliability in small and large firms, and provides a picture of the application of the mindfulness theory in different disciplines, including business.

First, mindfulness enhances quality and mindlessness diminishes it. Second, mindfulness‐based approaches to quality may offer a more resilient and sustainable solution to quality and reliability issues facing organisations, compared to routine‐based approaches.

The paper shows how management approaches that promote human cognition of quality and reliability issues in organisations and capacity to develop multiple effective and resilient solutions can better serve businesses than the routine‐based quality and management initiatives.