Perceived Social Support in a Developing Country: The Moderating Impact of Work-Life Policy

This study, grounded on the Conservation of Resource (COR) theory, examines the role of perceived social support sources and the moderating impact of work-life policy on work-life balance (WLB) among female employees in the context of the Bangladeshi banking industry. Data were collected from 559 female employees from 39 commercial banks located in Dhaka and Chattogram through a questionnaire survey utilizing a multi-stage stratified sampling technique and analyzed applying multiple regression and hierarchical regression techniques. Findings highlight the importance of perceived workplace support, perceived supervisory emotional support, perceived supervisory instrumental support, perceived co-worker emotional support, and perceived family support on WLB of Bangladeshi female bankers. Further, work-life policy moderated the relationship between PFS and WLB. Findings may help the management practitioners, regulators, banking professionals, and researchers to develop a deeper insight of the sources of social support driving WLB and the indirect effect of WLB policies on the relationships between PSS sources and WLB. This research extends the existing literature of WLB by examining the indirect effect of WLB policies on the relationships between PSS sources and WLB applying the COR theory emerging from the Western perspective, especially within the South-Asian developing country context. Keywords Perceived social support, Work-life balance, Work-life policy, Female bankers, Bangladesh.