Distal and proximal predictors of snacking at work: A daily-survey study

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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.

Original languageEnglish
JournalJournal of Applied Psychology
Volume102
Issue number2
Pages (from-to)151-162
Number of pages12
ISSN0021-9010
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 01.02.2017
Externally publishedYes

DOI