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Exploring Supervisor Responses to Quiet Quitting Human Resource Management, 2025
A Google search of “quiet quitting” yields over 350 million results, which is remarkable given that the term is only a few years old. Although quiet quitting is a relatively new trend, the concept it describes—an employee’s conscious decision to do the bare minimum in their job rather than going above and beyond—is familiar to researchers who have investigated organizational citizenship behavior (OCB). However, for those interested in the effective management of human resources, what is important—yet unknown—is how managers respond to employees who engage in quiet quitting. Therefore, in this conceptual paper, we use attribution theory to explore supervisor responses to employees who engage in quiet quitting and subsequently withhold OCB. We propose that supervisors will generally have negative reactions to employees’ withholding OCB, but we further explain how evaluations of locus, controllability, and stability and principles of discounting and augmenting influence supervisor attributions. Finally, implications for human resource theory, research, and practice are discussed. Quiet quitting can be harmful to the company as actual quitting. Managers’ beliefs about why employees are quiet quitting will influence how managers react. Managers should not automatically assume that quiet quitters are low performers. Organizations should provide tools for managers to identify the causes of quiet quitting. Managers should encourage open communication by ensuring employees feel safe and respected.
The Financial Times maintains a list of the top 50 academic business journals based on the quality and impact of their featured research. Having research published in a Financial Times Top 50 Journal is a solid indicator that a business school is among the top tiers. Each year, the Coles College recognizes faculty whose research appears in one of these prestigious journals with an award. Read on to learn about this year’s recipients.
Sarah E. Henry Mark C. Bolino Jacob M. Whitney
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