You Are What You Eat: How and When Workplace Healthy Eating Cultivates Coworker Perceptions and Behaviors

Food consumption has been conceptualized as an integral aspect of employee well-being. Whereas most research in the organizational literature to date is motivated by individual health outcomes, we assert that eating at work also entails interpersonal implications. In this manuscript, we draw from consumption stereotype theory and suggest that workplace healthy eating affects how employees are perceived and treated at work. Specifically, we posit that workplace healthy eating influences the extent to which a focal employee is attributed the trait of self-control, which subsequently impacts coworker citizenship behavior and social undermining enacted toward the focal employee. Moreover, we postulate healthy eating climate as a boundary condition to the effects of workplace healthy eating-when there is a salient healthy eating climate, workplace healthy eating is a weaker signal in the trait attribution process. Overall, we extend the concept of employee eating to the interpersonal level by explaining how employee eating directly affects coworker interactions.