Organizational Food Environments: Advancing Their Conceptual Model.

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Organizational Behavior
• Nutrition Science

Background:

• Organizational food environments significantly impact employee health and well-being.
• A comprehensive understanding of these environments is crucial for effective health interventions.
• Existing models lack the granularity to capture the multifaceted nature of workplace food settings.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and finalize a conceptual model of organizational food environments.
• To identify key components and dimensions influencing food choices and health within organizations.
• To provide a framework for assessing and improving organizational food environments.

Main Methods:

• Conducted a comprehensive literature review.
• Developed an initial conceptual model.
• Iteratively refined the model through two rounds of expert panel consultations.
• Finalized the model with graphical representation.

Main Results:

• Developed a four-component conceptual model: institutional, internal eating space, surroundings, and decisional levels.
• Identified 10 key dimensions across institutional and internal eating space levels, including availability, accessibility, affordability, quality, information, promotion, acceptability, convenience, ambience, and infrastructure.
• Presented the model in a graphical scheme.

Conclusions:

• The finalized conceptual model offers an innovative framework for understanding organizational food environments.
• This model can guide future research in assessing food environments.
• The model provides a foundation for designing targeted interventions to improve workplace food environments and promote healthier eating.