QUIET QUITTING AND ORGANIZATIONAL SUSTAINABILITY: A STRATEGIC RE-EVALUATION OF WORKPLACE DISENGAGEMENT AND HUMAN CAPITAL RESILIENCE

The post-pandemic labor landscape has witnessed the rise of "quiet quitting"—a behavioral phenomenon where employees strictly adhere to their contractual job descriptions while withholding discretionary extra-role behaviors, discretionary effort, and voluntary over-time involvement. While often framed by mainstream media as an expression of worker apathy, this study conceptualizes quiet quitting as a structural symptom of workplace burnout, organizational injustice, and systemic psychological contract breach. Through a comprehensive evaluation using Conservation of Resources (COR) theory, Social Exchange Theory (SET), and the Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) model, this paper examines the cascading operational, psychological, and financial impacts of quiet quitting on long-term organizational sustainability. I argue that relying on short-term extra-role extraction undermines triple-bottom-line organizational health. Ultimately, quiet quitting is not an expression of employee indolence, but a strategic self-preservation mechanism in response to prolonged work stress, unmet organizational expectations, and systemic burnout. Finally, an evidence-based strategic framework is offered to realign managerial practices, work-design architectures, and performance metrics to foster sustainable workforce resilience as well as recommendations are posited.