Implementing family‐friendly employment practices in banking industry: Evidences from some African and Asian countries

Abstract

We examined the effects of family‐friendly policies (child‐care benefits and work flexibility benefits) on organizational commitment and work–family conflict in four developing countries: China, India, Kenya, and Thailand. We also explored the boundary condition (e.g., perceived importance of family‐friendly programmes) under which family‐friendly policies are more (or less) effective in influencing organizational commitment and reducing work–family conflict. Results revealed national similarities on the effect of flexibility benefits on organizational commitment and work–family conflict. Specifically, we found that across the four countries work flexibility‐related family‐friendly policy was positively related to organizational commitment and negatively to perceived work–family conflict among those who perceived this policy as more important than less important. Instead, national variations are found in the results regarding child‐care benefits. Among these four countries, Kenya and Thailand are two countries in which child‐care‐related family‐friendly policies showed a significant and positive relationship with organizational commitment and/or a significant and negative relationship with work–family conflict. We also found child‐care‐related family‐friendly policies had differential effect among people with various perception of policy importance in Kenya and Thailand, but not in China and India. Particularly, child‐care‐related family‐friendly policy results in greater organizational commitment and lower work–family conflict among those who perceived this policy as more important than less important in Kenya and Thailand. Implications for cross‐cultural research, theory and practice are discussed.