The Effects of Demographics and Nutritional Knowledge on Hotel Employees’ External and Emotional Eating

ABSTRACT

This brief research aimed to examine how hotel employees’ demographics and nutritional knowledge influence their emotional and external eating behaviors. Empirical data was collected from hotel employees (n = 372) from four- and five-star hotels in Mediterranean cities in Turkey. ANOVA was conducted to identify the significant differences in employees’ emotional and external eating behaviors based on their demographic characteristics and nutritional knowledge. The study results indicated significant differences in hotel employees’ emotional eating by their gender, income, and education level. The study results further revealed that hotel employees’ external eating behavior differed based on their gender, marital status, and nutritional knowledge. The study results provide specific theoretical and practical implications in the health care and hospitality industries.

KEYWORDS:

• External eating
• emotional eating
• demographics
• nutritional knowledge
• hotel employees

Limitations and Future Research

This study is subject to several limitations. The current study examined how demographics and nutritional knowledge impact hotel employees’ eating behaviors. Future research could investigate the influence of other factors (e.g., Body mass index, eating culture, health implementations of hotels) on individuals’ eating behavior may provide additional insights. In addition, this study only focused on Turkish hotel employees’ eating behaviors. Future studies which collect data from different occupations and different countries may offer valuable information on this field.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.