Ethical leadership and internal whistle-blowing: a moderated mediation model

Kanika Tandon Bhal, Monica Verma, Bhumika Gupta () and Anubha Dadhich
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Kanika Tandon Bhal: Department of Management Studies [Delhi] - IIT Delhi - Indian Institute of Technology Delhi
Monica Verma: IMSEC - IMS Engineering College
Bhumika Gupta: LITEM - Laboratoire en Innovation, Technologies, Economie et Management (EA 7363) - UEVE - Université d'Évry-Val-d'Essonne - IMT-BS - Institut Mines-Télécom Business School - IMT - Institut Mines-Télécom [Paris], IMT-BS - MMS - Département Management, Marketing et Stratégie - TEM - Télécom Ecole de Management - IMT - Institut Mines-Télécom [Paris] - IMT-BS - Institut Mines-Télécom Business School - IMT - Institut Mines-Télécom [Paris]
Anubha Dadhich: IIM Raipur - Indian Institute of Management Raipur

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Abstract: With an increase in the number of financial frauds and unethical practices, the concept of internal whistleblowing has caught the attention of researchers but few empirical efforts have been made to study its predictors and other boundary conditions within which it operates. In this study, we investigate the role of ethical leaders, one of the most significant predictors of internal whistleblowing in motivating their employees to report wrongdoings in the organizations. Emphasizing on fairness modeled by ethical leaders, we propose that interactional justice in leader-follower interactions serves as a psychological mechanism in the relationship between ethical leadership and internal whistleblowing with organizational Machiavellianism serving as a boundary condition. The proposed relationships were tested from the data collected from 287 employees of 114 IT and ITeS companies located in Bengaluru and National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi. After testing the mediation and moderation hypotheses a full moderated mediation model was also tested using Preacher and Hayes (2004) method. The results show a positive relationship between ethical leadership and internal whistleblowing mediated by interactional justice. Moreover, organizational Machiavellianism moderates the relationship between ethical leadership and internal whistleblowing but fails to moderate the indirect relationship between ethical leadership and internal whistleblowing via interactional justice. The paper discusses the theoretical as well as the practical implications of the results obtained.

Keywords: Moderated-mediation; Ethical leadership; Internal whistleblowing; Interactional justice; Organizational machiavellianism (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019-08-09
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Published in AOM 2019 : 79th Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management, Aug 2019, Boston, Massachusetts, United States. ⟨10.5465/AMBPP.2019.16133abstract⟩

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:journl:hal-02559875

DOI: 10.5465/AMBPP.2019.16133abstract

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