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Prediction of Whistleblowing or Non-reporting Observation: The Role of Personal and Situational Factors

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Abstract

This study examined whether it was possible to classify Australian public sector employees as either whistleblowers or non-reporting observers using personal and situational variables. The personal variables were demography (gender, public sector tenure, organisational tenure and age), work attitudes (job satisfaction, trust in management, whistleblowing propensity) and employee behaviour (organisational citizenship behaviour). The situational variables were perceived personal victimisation, fear of reprisals and perceived wrongdoing seriousness. These variables were used as predictors in a series of binary logistic regressions. It was possible to identify whistleblowers on the basis of individual initiative, whistleblowing propensity (individual and organisational), fear of reprisals, perceived wrongdoing seriousness and perceived personal victimisation. It was concluded that whistleblowers are not markedly dissimilar to non-reporting observers. Based on the two most influential variables (perceived personal victimisation and perceived wrongdoing seriousness), the average Australian public sector whistleblower is most likely to be an ordinary employee making a good faith attempt to stop what they perceived to be a serious wrongdoing that was initially identified through personal victimisation.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank an anonymous reviewer for suggesting that organisational propensity and individual propensity might influence each other and the decision-making of observers of wrongdoers. This research was made possible by funding from the Australian Research Council (ARC Linkage Project LP0560303) and the various industry partners to this project, as listed on the project website: www.griffith.edu.au/whistleblowing. The authors thank their colleagues on the Whistling While They Work Project Team as well as these industry partners and the participants for their assistance with this research. The findings and views expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the Australian Research Council or the project industry partners.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Centre for Ethics, Law, Justice and Governance, Griffith University, Mt Gravatt Campus, 176 Messines Ridge Road, Mt Gravatt, Brisbane, QLD, 4122, Australia

    P. G. Cassematis

  2. UCL Jill Dando Institute of Security and Crime Science, 35 Tavistock Square, London, WC1H 9EZ, UK

    R. Wortley

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  1. P. G. Cassematis
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  2. R. Wortley
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Correspondence to P. G. Cassematis.

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Cassematis, P.G., Wortley, R. Prediction of Whistleblowing or Non-reporting Observation: The Role of Personal and Situational Factors. J Bus Ethics 117, 615–634 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-012-1548-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-012-1548-3

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