Textile retailing, one of the major industries with significant contribution to the Kerala State's GDP, generates employment to a sizeable section of women from the weaker socio-economic domain. Equipped with little education and no vocational skill, they fit well into the role of a sales personnel in textile retailing that is undemanding on either. Despite falling into the organised sector that is governed by various parameters to ensure employee welfare, these family run businesses largely follow the unorganised work culture and practices that prove detrimental to the interests of the employees physically, mentally and materially. A work environment of such nature punctuated by lengthy work hours, without weekly break and entitled wages, often give rise to hopeless discontentment and physical ailments without recourse to free medical care. Occupational stress, job dissatisfaction and work life imbalance are the three commonly suffered consequences, and the study attempts to highlight these three aspects of employment to examine their inter-relationship and the possible role of work life balance as a mediator to moderate the intensity of the inflictions. The study which has been resourced primarily from direct interview with 391 female sales staff from large textile retail outlets across the State, underscores the mediating effect of worklife balance on occupational stress and job satisfaction as evidenced by a Sobel Test value of -4.33.
Dr. Nisha Leela Jose (Mon,) studied this question.