Understanding the Phenomenon of Quiet Quitting among Employees in the Higher Education System

Document Type : Research Paper

Author

Associate Prof., Department of Educational Management, Faculty of Literature and Humanities, University of Ilam, Ilam, Iran.

Abstract

Objective
Quiet quitting represents a critical challenge for organizational systems, exerting profound effects on productivity, employee mental health, and long-term sustainability. This phenomenon manifests through covert, withdrawal-oriented behaviors—such as concealing work efforts, social isolation, responsibility avoidance, and tacit disengagement—which gradually solidify individual isolation, reduce voluntary effort, and diminish constructive collaboration. This study analyzes quiet quitting within Iran's higher education system to illuminate its underlying mechanisms, organizational consequences, and contextual drivers. The aim is to provide educational managers and policymakers with empirically grounded, targeted interventions for preventing and managing this issue.
Methods
This research employs a qualitative design based on content analysis. Data were collected through in-depth, semi-structured interviews designed to capture personal experiences, interpretive meanings, and cultural representations of quiet quitting. A purposive sample of 38 experts and key informants from universities and higher education institutions in Ilam Province was recruited. The data were analyzed using a three-stage coding process (open, axial, and selective coding) to identify latent patterns, inter-category relationships, and cross-level processes. Methodological trustworthiness was established through triangulation and expert validation procedures.
Results
The analysis yielded five overarching thematic categories, each comprising distinct behavioral indicators and contextual explanations:

Covert Withdrawal Behaviors: Including the concealment of work, social disengagement, responsibility avoidance, and covert exits. These behaviors progressively isolate individuals and undermine active participation in collaborative work and strategic initiatives.
Distorted Organizational Communication: Characterized by weak information flow, insufficient collaboration, deep interpersonal mistrust, and poor emotion management. This leads to reduced transparency, task allocation confusion, and lost opportunities for process improvement.
Impaired Organizational Psychology: Evidenced by low job satisfaction, diminished motivation, burnout, despair, reduced self-efficacy, and career pessimism. This climate potentiates unrecorded absenteeism and protracted corrosive conduct.
Autonomous Protective-Withdrawal Responses: Encompassing negative self-correction and retaliatory or solitary actions, which further erode trust and inter-organizational cooperation.
Purposeful Underperformance: Marked by reduced task effort, decreased voluntary engagement, passive-constraining behaviors, reluctance to assume new responsibilities, and diminished collegial communication. A cross-sectional synthesis indicates that quiet quitting arises from a confluence of socio-cultural processes, organizational-environmental pressures, and affective-psychological dynamics, which collectively lower organizational commitment and participation.

Conclusion
This study provides a granular framework for understanding the multidimensional nature of quiet quitting in higher education. Based on the findings, targeted interventions are proposed, including strengthening incentive systems, fostering a participatory culture, enhancing internal communication, and building specific managerial competencies. These measures are designed to equip policymakers and academic leaders with practical tools to counter this phenomenon. The insights generated have significant potential to inform future research and strategic decision-making aimed at enhancing performance and job satisfaction within Iran's higher education system.

Keywords

Main Subjects

References

 
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Journal of Public Administration
Volume 18, Issue 1
2026
Pages 147-173

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