The aim of this research was to investigate how employee perceptions of individual and organisational factors influence their participation in workplace exercise initiatives. A thematic literature review informed the direction of this research and identified the ongoing challenge of employee participation in workplace exercise initiatives. This study utilised the job demands-resources model as a theoretical framework, as to examine how different organisational factors may act as enablers or barriers to employee participation in a workplace exercise initiative. Additionally, taken into consideration were individual level barriers to participation and a moderating effect of intrinsic motivation and perceived employer intentions. This study followed a mixed-methods approach to research, which consisted of an online survey (N = 98), followed by semi-structured interviews.

This study found leadership support for wellbeing to have a significant influence on employee frequency of participation in an exercise initiative. This finding suggests that the more that leadership supports, promotes and plans for improving wellbeing, the more often employees will participate in exercise initiatives. Moreover, employee perceptions of employer intentions moderated the relationship between leadership support for wellbeing and the likelihood of participation in an exercise initiative. The level of perceived employer intentions indicated the degree to which an employee perceives the employer’s intentions of the exercise initiative to be genuine and caring towards employees. Additionally, although it was not directly hypothesised, a unique finding of this study was the relationship between perceived employer intentions of the exercise initiative and employee participation. Lastly, an unexpected finding of this study was the negative association temporal flexibility has with the likelihood of participation in an exercise initiative.

This study revealed a unique contributing factor to employee participation in exercise initiatives and consequently, this research not only contributes to existing literature but also provides a foundation for future research to further investigate perceived employer intentions in relation to employee participation in exercise initiatives. Furthermore, this research provided valuable insight into factors influencing employee participation, which is practically useful organisations looking to improve the way in which they implement exercise initiatives.