How Sweet It Is: Sugar Consumption and its Implications for Human Resource Management and the Work-Life Divide

Abstract

Consumption of refined sugar in modern diets has been identified as a source of many modern illnesses, including emotional and mood disorders. Furthermore, workplace "cake culture" within organizations has institutionalized and ritualized the consumption of sugar. I outline the effect that sugar consumption has on stress, fatigue and mood, and propose that these effects will have deleterious consequences on individual-level health and wellbeing in organizations. I further propose that social contagion has a mediating effect on these interactions. Implications for human resource management (HRM) and the work-life divide are then discussed. The paper concludes with future research directions for scholars.