The company you keep: health behavior among work peers

Gerald Pruckner, Thomas Schober and Katrin Zocher
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Katrin Zocher: Johannes Kepler University Linz

The European Journal of Health Economics, 2020, vol. 21, issue 2, No 8, 259 pages

Abstract: Abstract There is widespread agreement that behavior crucially influences one’s health. However, little is known about what actually determines health-related behavior. We explore the impact of the place where many people spend most of their time, at work, and analyze whether an individual’s decision to participate in health screening is related to the observed behavior of peers at work. We use linked employer–employee data and exploit the transitions of workers to new jobs. We find that the health behavior of co-workers highly correlated. A comparison of individuals moving into new firms shows that participation in general health checks, mammography screening, and prostate-specific antigen tests increases with the share of work peers attending these screenings. To differentiate between peer effects and common influences at the workplace, we further separate the peer groups within firms and show that workers with similar characteristics tend to have a stronger effect on individual screening participation.

Keywords: Health behavior; Screening; Peer effects; Workplace (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D83 I10 I12 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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Working Paper: The company you keep - Health behavior among work peers (2017)
Working Paper: The company you keep - Health behavior among work peers (2017)
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DOI: 10.1007/s10198-019-01124-4

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