TY - JOUR

T1 - Distal and proximal predictors of snacking at work

T2 - A daily-survey study

AU - Sonnentag, Sabine

AU - Pundt, Alexander

AU - Venz, Laura

PY - 2017/2/1

Y1 - 2017/2/1

N2 - This study aimed at examining predictors of healthy and unhealthy snacking at work. As proximal predictors we looked at food-choice motives (health motive, affect-regulation motive); as distal predictors we included organizational eating climate, emotional eating, and self-control demands at work. We collected daily survey data from 247 employees, over a period of 2 workweeks. Multilevel structural equation modeling showed that organizational eating climate predicted health as food-choice motive, whereas emotional eating and self-control demands predicted affect regulation as food-choice motive. The health motive, in turn, predicted consuming more fruits and more cereal bars and less sweet snacks; the affect-regulation motive predicted consuming more sweet snacks. Findings highlight the importance of a health-promoting eating climate within the organization and point to the potential harm of high self-control demands at work.

AB - This study aimed at examining predictors of healthy and unhealthy snacking at work. As proximal predictors we looked at food-choice motives (health motive, affect-regulation motive); as distal predictors we included organizational eating climate, emotional eating, and self-control demands at work. We collected daily survey data from 247 employees, over a period of 2 workweeks. Multilevel structural equation modeling showed that organizational eating climate predicted health as food-choice motive, whereas emotional eating and self-control demands predicted affect regulation as food-choice motive. The health motive, in turn, predicted consuming more fruits and more cereal bars and less sweet snacks; the affect-regulation motive predicted consuming more sweet snacks. Findings highlight the importance of a health-promoting eating climate within the organization and point to the potential harm of high self-control demands at work.

KW - Health sciences

KW - Diary

KW - Eating

KW - Food motives

KW - Organizational climate

KW - Self-control demands

KW - Business psychology

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84991063391&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1037/apl0000162

DO - 10.1037/apl0000162

M3 - Journal articles

C2 - 27736117

AN - SCOPUS:84991063391

VL - 102

SP - 151

EP - 162

JO - Journal of Applied Psychology

JF - Journal of Applied Psychology

SN - 0021-9010

IS - 2

ER -