Does Nepotism Trigger Quiet Quitting? A Research on Local Governments

The concept of quiet quitting, which denotes a cognitive and/or emotional, if not physical, detachment, has recently become one of the most frequently studied topics in organizational psychology. The term refers to performing only the tasks stipulated in job description with minimum organizational commitment and not going beyond that. Due to the detrimental effect of quiet quitting on both individual and organizational performance, it is crucial to study the phenomenon in depth. By referring to the organizational justice perspective, the study is designed to determine whether one of the negative employee experiences, nepotism, in local governments trigger quiet quitting. The main assumption of the research is that nepotism deteriorates the sense of justice, which leads employees to quit quietly. Structured questionnaires were administered to 259 local government workers in Adana. The results suggest that exposure to nepotism triggers quiet quitting in local governments where preferential treatments are allegedly pervasive. The study is expected to guide managers in establishing effective human resources practices in such institutions.