Employees' healthy eating and physical activity: the role of colleague encouragement and behaviour. 2022

Anne van der Put, and Lea Ellwardt
Department of Sociology, Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences, Utrecht University, Padualaan 14, 3584 CH, Utrecht, The Netherlands. a.c.vanderput@uu.nl.

Exercising and eating healthy are not just an individual choice, but influenced by family members, friends, or neighbours. Little is known, however, about colleagues, who are another important interpersonal influence. Many people spend many hours at work, surrounded by mostly the same colleagues, who could therefore significantly shape employees' (un)healthy choices. We studied to what extent colleagues may play a part in one another's eating and exercise behaviours by focusing on two pathways: colleagues can encourage a healthy lifestyle or act as role models whose behaviours can be observed and copied. We used the European Sustainable Workforce Survey, with data on 4345 employees in 402 teams in 113 organisations. We used network autocorrelation models, which resemble regression models, to study to what extent employee encouragement is related to fruit and vegetable consumption, and physical activity. Specific to this type of model is the inclusion of a network correlation parameter which allows for the outcome of an employee to be directly associated with the outcomes of their colleagues. In this way we tested whether colleagues' behaviours were related to one another. We found that employees were more likely to eat fruit and vegetables as well as engage in physical activity when their colleagues encourage a healthy lifestyle. Employees' healthy eating behaviours were positively related to their colleagues' fruit and vegetable consumption, while we found a negative correlation concerning physical activity. Overall, colleagues' encouragement and own healthy behaviours have the potential to contribute to creating a culture of health in the workplace and support all employees in making healthy choices.

UI MeSH Term Description Entries
D007398 Interpersonal Relations The reciprocal interaction of two or more persons. Social Relationships,Husband-Wife Communication,Partner Communication,Communication, Husband-Wife,Communication, Partner,Husband Wife Communication,Husband-Wife Communications,Interpersonal Relation,Partner Communications,Relation, Interpersonal,Relationship, Social,Social Relationship
D006801 Humans Members of the species Homo sapiens. Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D000072001 Diet, Healthy Dietary patterns which have been found to be important in reducing disease risk. Healthy Nutrition,Prudent Diet,Healthy Diet,Healthy Eating,Healthy Eating Index,Diet, Prudent,Diets, Healthy,Diets, Prudent,Eating, Healthy,Healthy Diets,Healthy Eating Indices,Index, Healthy Eating,Indices, Healthy Eating,Nutrition, Healthy,Prudent Diets
D014675 Vegetables A food group comprised of EDIBLE PLANTS or their parts. Vegetable
D015444 Exercise Physical activity which is usually regular and done with the intention of improving or maintaining PHYSICAL FITNESS or HEALTH. Contrast with PHYSICAL EXERTION which is concerned largely with the physiologic and metabolic response to energy expenditure. Aerobic Exercise,Exercise, Aerobic,Exercise, Isometric,Exercise, Physical,Isometric Exercise,Physical Activity,Acute Exercise,Exercise Training,Activities, Physical,Activity, Physical,Acute Exercises,Aerobic Exercises,Exercise Trainings,Exercise, Acute,Exercises,Exercises, Acute,Exercises, Aerobic,Exercises, Isometric,Exercises, Physical,Isometric Exercises,Physical Activities,Physical Exercise,Physical Exercises,Training, Exercise,Trainings, Exercise
D016272 Occupational Health The promotion and maintenance of physical and mental health in the work environment. Employee Health,Industrial Health,Industrial Hygiene,Occupational Safety,Health, Industrial,Hygiene, Industrial,Safety, Occupational,Health, Employee,Health, Occupational
D017132 Workplace Place or physical location of work or employment. Job Site,Work Location,Work Place,Work-Site,Worksite,Job Sites,Location, Work,Work Locations,Work Places,Work Site,Work-Sites,Workplaces,Worksites

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