Quiet Quitting: A Conceptualization, Scale Development and Validation

Abstract

In recent years, the concept of “quiet quitting” has gained traction through social media and popular press. Although it has also caught the attention of I-O psychologists, the process has only begun in terms of its establishment as an empirical construct. This study lays the foundation for a nomological network of quiet quitting through examining similar constructs and adding theoretical context via the job demands-resources (JD-R) framework. The first phase of the study utilized descriptions of quiet quitting from popular press and available academic sources to establish an operational definition. Further, this facilitated the development and validation of a scale to assess quiet quitting from a behavioral perspective. The result was a six-item multidimensional scale that operationalizes quiet quitting through two factors, a) time and b) effort above and beyond formal job requirements and compensation. The model exhibited sound psychometric properties (CFI= .983, TLI= .968, RMSEA= .065, 90% CI= [.028, .103], SRMR=.026, X 2(8) = 19.36, p=.13), demonstrating preferable fit to a single factor model. The end product had strong reliability at both the construct (α= .80) and facet levels (Effort α= .80; Time α= .76). Finally, a preliminary assessment of convergent validity confirmed predicted correlations of the quiet quitting scale compared to orbiting constructs. Despite operating within the confines of self-report, these studies present valuable implications for theory and practice. Their outcomes lay the groundwork to inform theory and future research through a growing nomological network and further an in-depth investigation of COVID-19 related workplace phenomena, while lending use to practitioners that want to assess meaningful trends of employee behavior.