A Qualitative Exploration of Management and Leadership Challenges in Addressing Quiet Quitting Intention within Private Education Institutions

Abstract

Talent retention remains a persistent challenge for private educational institutions, particularly within the socio-cultural and resource-constrained context of South Punjab, Pakistan. Although existing literature has examined employee turnover and disengagement, the growing phenomenon of Quiet Quitting Intention (QQI), where talented employees remain physically present yet psychologically detached from their work, has received limited attention, especially in school and college settings. This qualitative study explored the leadership and managerial challenges underlying QQI and their implications for retaining talented teaching staff. Using purposive sampling, data were collected from 19 respondents, including principals, vice principals, teachers, HR officers, and administrators across private schools and intermediate-level colleges. Semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions were analyzed using a six-phase thematic analysis approach. To enhance the trustworthiness of the findings, thematic insights were further triangulated with existing scholarly literature.The analysis revealed ten major challenges contributing to quiet disengagement, including workload imbalance, limited career advancement, inadequate compensation, weak communication channels, emotional exhaustion, lack of HR governance, behavioral stressors in classrooms, insufficient recognition, digital competency pressures, and misalignment between institutional goals and ground-level realities. Findings showed that management struggled to address QQI due to informal organizational structures, scarcity of resources, and entrenched socio-cultural norms that shape leadership practices in the region. This study offers a nuanced, context-specific understanding of the managerial barriers in mitigating QQI and contributes to the broader discourse on employee disengagement by highlighting critical areas requiring administrative reforms and supportive leadership practices to improve talent retention in private educational institutions.