Abstract:

Abstract

Quiet quitting (QQ) has received considerable attention as a contemporary form of employee withdrawal, but its conceptualisation in academic research remains fragmented and diffused. Although quiet quitting has been recognised in research as a contested phenomenon and largely treated as a static outcome, growing evidence indicates that it emerges as a process of passive disengagement. To fill this gap, the present study conducts a systematic literature review (SLR) to reconceptualize quiet quitting as a temporal process of disengagement.

Using the PRISMA 2020 guidelines, a systematic search of Scopus and Web of Science was conducted and ultimately identified 75 peer-reviewed articles for inclusion in the analysis. A multi-method review design was implemented, including bibliometric mapping, content analysis, and thematic synthesis. Bibliometric analysis was done to better understand the intellectual structure and dominant explanatory mechanisms in the field. Using content and thematic analysis, prior findings were synthesised across three broad categories—antecedents, psychological processes, and outcomes—followed by frequency-based analysis to identify dominant and underexplored themes. The review identifies four theoretical clusters: resource conservation, exchange imbalance, motivational erosion, and atheoretical descriptive accounts. Despite diversity, most explanations converge around two main theoretical underpinnings namely Job Demands-Resources model (JD-R model) and Social Exchange Theory (SET) which together provide the primary explanatory basis for quiet quitting.

The review reveals that quiet quitting is frequently associated with adverse work and organisational conditions, operates through gradual psychological mechanisms such as resource depletion, meaning erosion, and silent reciprocity, and culminates in work and career-related outcomes including reduced performance and withdrawal intentions. Based on these observations, the study develops an integrative framework that shows quiet quitting as a temporal process of passive disengagement, shaped by contextual conditions such as leadership, individual resources, and organisational culture.

By shifting the analytical focus from outcome to process and integrating resource and relational perspectives, this study advances theoretical clarity and provides directions for future research and organisational intervention.

Please choose your submission type: Full Paper

Primary Track: Organisational Psychology

Keywords: Employee Health, Safety and Well Being at Work    ;Employee Attitudes and Motivations   ;Organizational Misbehaviour    ;Employee Response to Organisational Change    ;Positive Organisational Psychology   

Menu

Dr. R Deepa