The Impact of Work-Life Conflict on Employees’ Emotional Well-Being and the Adoption of Quiet Quitting—A Study Case Applied to the Portuguese Hospitality Industry

The present paper aims to understand the relationship between work-life conflict, emotional well-being, burnout, and the recently emerged quiet quitting phenomenon. Considering the importance of understanding quiet quitting antecedents and outcomes, as well as it’s relation with the above-mentioned variables, the authors propose a study within the Portuguese hospitality industry aiming to better understand this new phenomenon. Hospitality is especially vulnerable in what concerns to human resources practices and employee’ well-being, and considering its contribution to the economy and its long-lasting difficulties in retaining talent. Bearing this in mind, the present work seems to have several contributions, being this, to our knowledge, the first study relating these four concepts, in Portugal, and, specifically, within the hospitality industry. The theoretical framework covers four important constructs: work-life conflict, emotional well-being, burnout, and quiet quitting. Results from the literature review suggest a negative relationship between work-life conflict and well-being. Conflicts are correlated with increasing burnout. It is also recognized that employees may adopt quiet quitting behaviors, in order to protect themselves from burnout and to improve their work-life balance. This work contributes to the literature by identifying some key risk factors that can foster quiet quitting.