Attributions about organizational motives behind wellness programs: An employee-centered approach

Using a human resource (HR) attributions lens, we uncover 16 attributions that employees make about the reasons why their organization provides wellness programs. We also examine the implications of such attributions for employee outcomes (i.e., psychological strain, job burnout, job satisfaction). Recognizing employees can hold multiple HR attributions at the same time, an employee-centered approach was used. Through latent profile analysis with a sample of 517 Australian employees, four wellness program attribution profiles emerged: indifferent, favorable, unfavorable and ambivalent. Overall, employees with a favorable profile of wellness program attributions experienced better health and well-being outcomes compared to those with an unfavorable profile. In addition, employees in the unfavorable profile were found to have higher psychological strain, higher job burnout, and lower job satisfaction compared with their indifferent counterparts. Furthermore, employees with a profile of unfavorable attributions had higher psychological strain and lower job satisfaction compared to those with more mixed views about their wellness program. Past participation was unrelated to employee outcomes, but past participation predicted profile membership, suggesting that it is the attributions employees hold about their wellness programs that matter more than actual usage. Overall, we advance our understanding of HR attributions within the specific context of wellness programs and offer novel insights into a far greater number of attributions than previously studied for any HR practice. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).