Department of Sociology, Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences, Utrecht University, Padualaan 14, 3584 CH, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
Institute of Sociology and Social Psychology, University of Cologne, Albert Magnus Platz, 50923, Cologne, Germany.
BMC Public Health. 2022 Nov 1;22(1):2004. doi: 10.1186/s12889-022-14394-0.
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.
锻炼和健康饮食不仅是个人的选择，还受到家庭成员、朋友或邻居的影响。然而，人们对同事知之甚少，同事是另一个重要的人际影响因素。许多人在工作中花费大量时间，周围都是同样的同事，因此他们可以极大地影响员工的（不健康）选择。我们通过关注两种途径来研究同事在彼此的饮食和锻炼行为中可能扮演的角色：同事可以鼓励健康的生活方式，或者成为可以观察和效仿的行为榜样。
我们使用了欧洲可持续劳动力调查的数据，该调查涉及 113 个组织中的 4345 名员工和 402 个团队。我们使用了类似于回归模型的网络自相关模型，来研究员工的鼓励程度与水果和蔬菜的消费以及身体活动之间的关系。这种模型的一个特点是包括网络相关参数，该参数允许员工的结果与其同事的结果直接相关。通过这种方式，我们测试了同事的行为是否相互关联。
我们发现，当同事鼓励健康的生活方式时，员工更有可能食用水果和蔬菜并进行身体活动。员工的健康饮食习惯与同事的水果和蔬菜消费呈正相关，而与身体活动呈负相关。
总的来说，同事的鼓励和自身的健康行为有可能为创造健康的工作场所文化做出贡献，并支持所有员工做出健康的选择。
