Understanding the Work Stress–Performance Link: The Mediating Role of Quiet Quitting among Indonesian Generation Z Employees

Abstract

Quiet quitting has become an increasingly visible feature of the post-pandemic workplace, particularly within Generation Z the cohort that now makes up the largest share of Indonesia's labour force. Work stress has long been identified as an antecedent of this behaviour, yet its direct and mediated influence on performance is rarely estimated simultaneously within a single model, and evidence drawn from Indonesian Gen Z employees beyond specific sectors remains limited. Grounded in the Job Demands–Resources (JD-R) perspective, this research asks how strongly work stress shapes both quiet quitting and employee performance, and whether quiet quitting transmits the stress–performance relationship. An explanatory quantitative approach was adopted; responses were gathered through an online survey distributed purposively to 400 Gen Z workers across Indonesia. Measurement and structural models were estimated using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) in SmartPLS. Results indicate that higher work stress raises quiet quitting (β=0,727), that quiet quitting lowers performance (β=-0,225), and that work stress depresses performance directly (β=-0,610). The indirect path running from work stress to performance through quiet quitting is likewise negative and statistically significant (β=-0,163). Taken together, the evidence positions quiet quitting as the behavioural route through which stress erodes performance, contributes to the JD-R literature, and points to concrete stress-management priorities for organisations employing Indonesia's Gen Z workforce.