Reorientation of Islamic Work Ethic in Responding to the Great Global Resignation Trend

Abstract

The phenomenon of The Great Resignation that emerged after the COVID-19 pandemic has shifted from a wave of open resignation to a covert disengagement in the form of quiet quitting, with global employee engagement falling to 20 percent in 2025. This reflects a crisis of meaning unanswered by incentive based management. This study reorients the Islamic work ethic as an alternative value framework for that crisis. The reorientation moves Islamic work ethic from a worker centred ethic of obligation toward a reciprocal ethic binding worker and organization alike. The design is qualitative descriptive analytical library research, drawing on peer reviewed journals, institutional reports, and primary Islamic sources, analysed through thematic analysis of the management literature and thematic interpretation, tafsir maudhu’i, of five Qur’anic verses read against Tafsir Ibn Kathir and Tafsir al-Mishbah. The results of the study show that the core of the problem has shifted from physical turnover to a crisis of engagement, and yield a framework of five dimensions, namely spiritual, professional, justice, humanity, and sustainability, addressing loss of meaning, disengagement, perceived injustice, and burnout respectively. Earlier empirical studies report that Islamic work ethic correlates positively with job satisfaction and organizational commitment and negatively with turnover intention, which is consistent with, but does not establish, the framework proposed here. The study concludes that a reoriented Islamic work ethic has the potential to support a shift from reward driven to meaning driven management, and recommends empirical testing in diverse organizational contexts.