What Makes You a Whistleblower? A Multi-Country Field Study on the Determinants of the Intention to Report Wrongdoing

Hengky Latan (), Charbel Jose Chiappetta Jabbour (), Murad Ali (), Ana Beatriz Lopes de Sousa Jabbour () and Tan Vo-Thanh ()
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Hengky Latan: HLC Consulting
Charbel Jose Chiappetta Jabbour: EMLYON Business School
Murad Ali: Northumbria University
Ana Beatriz Lopes de Sousa Jabbour: University of Lincoln
Tan Vo-Thanh: Excelia Business School, CEREGE (AE 1722)

Journal of Business Ethics, 2023, vol. 183, issue 3, No 13, 885-905

Abstract: Abstract Whistleblowers have significantly shaped the state of contemporary society; in this context, this research sheds light on a persistently neglected research area: what are the key determinants of whistleblowing within government agencies? Taking a unique methodological approach, we combine evidence from two pieces of fieldwork, conducted using both primary and secondary data from the US and Indonesia. In Study 1, we use a large-scale survey conducted by the US Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB). Additional tests are conducted in Study 1, making comparisons between those who have and those who do not have whistleblowing experience. In Study 2, we replicate the survey conducted by the MSPB, using empirical data collected in Indonesia. We find a mixture of corroboration of previous results and unexpected findings between the two samples (US and Indonesia). The most relevant result is that perceived organizational protection has a significant positive effect on whistleblowing intention in the US sample, but a similar result was not found in the Indonesian sample. We argue that this difference is potentially due to the weakness of whistleblowing protection in Indonesia, which opens avenues for further understanding the role of societal cultures in protecting whistleblowers around the globe.

Keywords: Whistleblowing; Perceived organizational protection; Public service motivation; Perceived seriousness of wrongdoing; Education of whistleblowing (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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DOI: 10.1007/s10551-022-05089-y

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