To examine the role of thriving in the relationship between mindfulness and contextual performance.Thriving has been known as one of the most important components in the professional development of nurses. Previous studies have also shown that mindfulness and contextual performance have an effective role in workplace. Yet, we still know relatively little about the underlying mechanisms that explain the relationship among mindfulness, thriving and contextual performance in a nursing context.Data were collected from nurses from various hospitals in Turkey (N = 398). We used the structural equation model to test the mediation model.Empirical results indicate that thriving mediates the link between employee mindfulness and contextual performance.This study contributes to the existing literature on thriving by explaining the mediating mechanisms through which mindfulness affects contextual performance and provides implications for practitioners by showing that employees with higher levels of mindfulness engage in more extra-role behaviours when their thriving is high.Managers should pay attention to finding ways to improve mindfulness and thriving in organisations in order to increase nurses' contextual performance.