Understanding Why Employees Engage in Health Initiatives: Development of a Workplace Health Climate Perception Tool

There is growing interest in workplace health promotion programs (Grawitch, Trares & Kohler, 2007) and a recognition for the importance of including organizational level predictors (Zwetsloot & Leka, 2010). The concept of... [ view full abstract ]

There is growing interest in workplace health promotion programs (Grawitch, Trares & Kohler, 2007) and a recognition for the importance of including organizational level predictors (Zwetsloot & Leka, 2010). The concept of organizational climate is recognized as an important predictor of employee health and a reflection of the overarching environment, but its influence on the delivery and engagement in health promotion programs is not adequately understood. In response to this, the current study piloted a health climate scale consisting of 4 Factors and also tested the scale as part of a workplace health promotion performance framework. Results supported the 4 Factor health climate scale, although it was found to be a weak predictor of willingness to participate in health behaviors at work and health program engagement. As for the workplace health promotion performance framework, a significant partial mediation was found between heath climate, health promotion program attitudes, health climate preferences and willingness to participate in health behaviors at work on predicted health program engagement.

health climate, organizational climate, organizational initiatives, scale development, employee health and wellbeing, workplace readiness, perceptions of support, health behaviours. [ view full abstract ]

health climate, organizational climate, organizational initiatives, scale development, employee health and wellbeing, workplace readiness, perceptions of support, health behaviours.