The Role of Leadership Support for Health Promotion in Employee Wellness Program Participation, Perceived Job Stress, and Health Behaviors

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of the study was to explore the relationship between leadership support for health promotion and job stress, wellness program participation, and health behaviors.

Design: A cross-sectional survey design was used.

Setting: Four worksites with a range of wellness programs were selected for this study.

Participants: Participants in this study were employees (n = 618) at 4 organizations (bank, private university, wholesale supplier, and public university) in the southeastern United States, each offering an employee wellness program. Response rates in each organization ranged from 3% to 34%.

Measures: Leadership support for health promotion was measured with the Leading by Example instrument. Employee participation in wellness activities, job stress, and health behaviors were measured with multi-item scales.

Analysis: Correlation/regression analysis and descriptive statistics were used to analyze the relationships among the scaled variables.

Results: Employees reporting higher levels of leadership support for health promotion also reported higher levels of wellness activity participation, lower job stress, and greater levels of health behavior ( P = .001). To ascertain the amount of variance in health behaviors accounted for by the other variables in the study, a hierarchical regression analysis revealed a statistically significant model (model F_7,523 = 27.28; P = .001), with leadership support for health promotion (β = .19, t = 4.39, P = .001), wellness activity participation (β = .28, t = 6.95, P < .001), and job stress (β = -.27, t = -6.75, P ≤ .001) found to be significant predictors of health behaviors in the model. Exploratory regression analyses by organization revealed the focal variables as significant model predictors for only the 2 larger organizations with well-established wellness programs.

Conclusion: Results from the study suggest that employees' perceptions of organizational leadership support for health promotion are related to their participation in wellness activities, perceived job stress levels, and health behaviors.

Keywords: employee wellness participation; health behaviors; leadership support for health promotion; perceived job stress.