Career Development and Employee Engagement Mitigate Quiet Quitting among Gen Z in Indonesian Startups through Job Satisfaction

Pengembangan Karier dan Keterlibatan Karyawan: Mengurangi Fenomena “Quiet Quitting” di Kalangan Generasi Z di Perusahaan Rintisan Indonesia Melalui Kepuasan Kerja

Authors

  • Nuria Puspita Anggrainy Central China Normal University
  • Wu Lei Central China Normal University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.21070/jbmp.v12i2.2384

Keywords:

career development, employee engagement, job satisfaction, quiet quitting

Abstract

To address the growing challenge of "quiet quitting" among Generation Z employees in fast-growing startups, this study aims to examine the impact of career development and employee engagement in reducing this behavior, specifically evaluating job satisfaction as a mediating variable. Using an explanatory mixed-methods design, quantitative data from 937 surveyed Gen Z employees were analyzed using SEM-PLS and AMOS, while qualitative insights from 12 in-depth interviews were processed using NVivo. The results reveal that career development exerts a significantly stronger direct negative effect on quiet quitting and a stronger positive effect on job satisfaction than employee engagement. Furthermore, job satisfaction was found to fully mediate the impact of both career development and employee engagement on quiet quitting. Practically, these findings imply that to effectively curb quiet quitting among young professionals, organizations must position clear career development pathways as their primary human resource strategy, utilize employee engagement initiatives as complementary tools, and actively cultivate overall job satisfaction to ensure these efforts successfully sustain employee dedication.

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Published

2026-09-28

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