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New research has identified the work factors most likely to lead to "quiet quitting", and calls for HR practitioners to view the phenomenon with less negativity.

In a paper published in Human Resource Management, researchers led by Justine Hervé, from Stevens Institute of Technology in the US, report that employees who feel they have a low level of control over their job outcomes are significantly more likely to become "quiet quitters", however this doesn't necessarily mean they're disengaged, nor harm their performance.

The team developed and validated a five-item scale to differentiate quiet quitting from other previously associated work-related behavioural concepts, such as disengagement, or low organisational citizenship behaviour (OCB), which pertains to going beyond one's formal job duties.

The researchers note that in contrast to how it's generally framed, quiet quitting often doesn't reflect 'laziness'; rather, it's "an employee's deliberate choice to limit their work effort strictly to the responsibilities outlined in their contract, intentionally refraining from tasks that go beyond the minimum requirements"...