Quitting silently: A longitudinal research on the impact of workplace conflict and nonviolent work behavior

• Published date: 01 December 2024
• Author: Suhans Bansal,Naval Garg
• Date: 01 December 2024
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/crq.21444

RESEARCH ARTICLE

Quitting silently: A longitudinal research on the

impact of workplace conflict and nonviolent

work behavior

Suhans Bansal | Naval Garg

Department of University School of

Management and Entrepreneurship,

Delhi Technological University, New

Delhi, India

Correspondence

Naval Garg, Department of University

School of Management and

Entrepreneurship, Delhi Technological

University, New Delhi, India.

Email: naval.garg@dtu.ac.in

Abstract

This study aimed to explore the moderation effect of

nonviolent work behavior on the relationship between

workplace conflict and quiet quitting. The study is

based on a longitudinal research design and uses

AMOS to explore the results. Age and gender were

used as control variables. The results suggest that the

two dimensions of workplace conflict, that is, relation-

ship and task conflicts, lead to the development of

quiet quitting among Indian IT industry employees.

The results also indicate that practicing nonviolent

work behavior can reduce the development of quiet

quitting arising out of workplace conflict. To the best of

the authors' knowledge, this is one of the first studies

that confirm the moderating role of nonviolent work

behavior on the relationship between workplace con-

flict and quiet quitting, especially in India.

1|INTRODUCTION

The workplace conflict arise among employees due to differences in perspectives, personalities,

aspirations, cultural backgrounds, values, and communication styles (Cvenkel, 2020) and in

some cases due to organizational and situational factors (Leiß & Rausch, 2022). Researcher

argued “an inverted U shaped”graph of conflict and performance, wherein low level of conflict

results in positive outcomes and conflict beyond a certain level produces undesirable outcomes

(Pereira et al., 2023). The favorable results of workplace conflict include work engagement (Ter

Hoeven & Van Zoonen, 2020), job satisfaction, better decision-making, and higher performance

(Chakraborty et al., 2022; Pradhan & Jena, 2016), happier employees (Chen & Francesco, 2003),

and better work-life balance (Bhende et al., 2020). Whereas, negative consequences include

Received: 25 March 2024 Revised: 12 June 2024 Accepted: 20 June 2024

DOI: 10.1002/crq.21444

Conflict Resolution Quarterly. 2024;42:241–258. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/crq © 2024 Wiley Periodicals LLC. 241

lower career commitment (Deshpande & Chakraborty, 2023), mental health issues (Bansal

et al., 2023), poor team collaboration (Donohue et al., 2023), turnover intentions (Badar

et al., 2023), promote workplace deviant behavior (Atatsi et al., 2019), degraded work perfor-

mance (J, 2014). One such deviant behavior is quiet quitting. Arnetz et al. (2018) suggest that

some employees prefer responding to any conflict or violence with violence, resulting in a “tit-

for-tat”situation, on the other hand, some employees may respond with a milder yet powerful

withdrawal behavior known as quiet quitting (Ahmed et al., 2013). Quite quitting does not

mean quietly quitting the present assignment and look for alternative jobs, it refers to signifi-

cant reduction in the work efforts and limit oneself to only explicitly defined job profile. It is

“sometimes conceptualized not as a way for employees to leave their current positions but to

redistribute and re-prioritize how their time is spent”(Anand et al., 2023). It is a psychological

withdrawal that generally precedes turnover (Hamouche et al., 2023). Previous studies have

linked several factors as causes of quiet quitting, including COVID-19 (Hamouche et al., 2023),

job burnout (Chakraborty et al., 2022; Cox et al., 2017), throat-cut competition (Xiong &

Chen, 2018), and imbalanced work-life (Tapper, 2022). Further, quiet quitting results in various

detrimental consequences ranging from employees becoming isolated to higher employee attri-

tion and reduced overall productivity for the firm (Li et al., 2021). Current studies have shown

that employees who tend to indulge in quiet quitting have faced actions such as being labeled

as underperformers, demotions, and, in severe cases, termination from job (Serenko, 2023).

Nevertheless, this concept is still new to researchers and requires further exploration, especially

in the context of workplace conflict.

1.1 |Importance of studying quiet quitting

The research on quiet quitting is limited, especially on its relationship with workplace conflict.

It is important to examine these initial and mild forms of employees response to conflict for

three important reasons. First, early stage behaviors like quite quitting offer clear clues about

latent workplace conflict which, if not addressed immediately, may blow up into full scale con-

flict (Serenko, 2023). Thus, organizations can take clues from these early signs to avoid future

troubles. Secondly, quite quitting largely gets unnoticed as employees perform his/her assigned

or explicitly defined duties. But they seriously dent individual and organizational performance

as it kills organizational creativity and innovation, knowledge sharing, employee engagement,

and committment (Anand et al., 2023; Lu et al., 2017). Last, although such behaviors evades

organizational scrutiny, the gossip they generate motivates others to follow the suit causing seri-

ous ramifications for any organization. Therefore, this study aims to examine the influence of

workplace conflict on quite quitting.

1.2 |Intervention suggested

The role of individual level intervention to counter the occurrences of the employee deviant

behaviors needs to be explored (Biswas & Chakraborty, 2023). One such intervention is nonvio-

lent work behaviors. Nonviolent work behavior does not mean mere absence of violence, rather,

it includes trust, empathy, mutual respect, and forgiveness in mutual interactions, ensuring that

even violent actions are responded in positive and constructive manner, defusing the conflicting

situation with peace, love, and trust. Nonviolent work behavior interventions promote a strong

positive organizational culture and are both preventive and cost-effective (Lata & Garg, 2023).

242 BANSAL and GARG