Overview: A new trend has emerged in news media called ‘quiet quitting’ a concept with two opposing perspectives. The first is that quiet quitting concerns workers who are rejecting hustle culture and stress by improving work-life balance. The second perspective is that workers who do this are lazy and have lower productivity. Using framing theory how news media defines the concept needs to be explored as academic research interest is increasing.
Method: 16 news articles were selected for thematic analysis.
Findings: Quiet quitting was found to have a conceptual overlap with disengagement and burnout literature. Several unique themes were identified, such as not going above and beyond without reward. A conflict framework was identified as managers claim there will be consequences for this behaviour. Overall, this research highlights that quiet quitting is due to toxic workplace culture and unrealistic expectations.
Contribution: This research is amongst the first to explore the concept and whether it is novel.