Affective Organizational Commitment Links Job Satisfaction to Quiet Quitting in Healthcare Workers: The Amplifying Role of Career Engagement

Abstract

Background/Objectives: This study examined the relationships among job satisfaction, affective organizational commitment, career engagement, and quiet quitting in healthcare workers. Specifically, we tested a moderated mediation model in which affective organizational commitment mediated the relationship between job satisfaction and quiet quitting and career engagement moderated this indirect effect. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, data were collected online between April and May 2024 from 373 employees of public and private healthcare institutions in Istanbul, T & uuml;rkiye. Participants completed validated measures of the four constructs. We tested mediation and moderation with SPSS 26.0 and the Hayes PROCESS macro (Model 14). Results: Job satisfaction correlated positively with affective organizational commitment and strongly and negatively with quiet quitting. Quiet quitting was higher among women (d = 0.42); nurses descriptively showed the lowest job satisfaction and the highest quiet quitting; however, no pairwise difference in quiet quitting was detected. The conditional indirect association between job satisfaction and quiet quitting through affective organizational commitment became stronger as career engagement increased. Conclusions: Job satisfaction and affective organizational commitment emerged as key correlates of lower quiet quitting. Career engagement amplified rather than buffered the role of affective organizational commitment: commitment was most strongly associated with lower quiet quitting among highly career-engaged employees, whereas low commitment in this group was accompanied by higher quiet quitting. Healthcare managers may consider strategies that strengthen employee commitment while supporting career development.