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Resistance Will Be Futile? The Stigmatization (or Not) of Whistleblowers

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Abstract

Does speaking up ruin one’s life? Organizational and whistleblowing research largely accept that “whistleblower” is a negative label that effects one’s well-being. Whistleblowing research also emphasizes the drawn-out process of speaking up. The result is a narrative of the whistleblower as someone who suffers indefinitely. In this paper, I draw on theories of stigma, labelling, and identity, specifically stigmatized identity, to provide a more nuanced understanding of whistleblower stigma as relational and temporary. I analyse two cases of whistleblowing, one where the label “whistleblower” was accepted, and one where it was eventually rejected. By comparing how the whistleblower responds to stigmatizing and non-stigmatizing others, I explore how whistleblower stigmatization emerges, or does not, in interactions. This paper makes two important contributions. First, I add to the growing research on whistleblower stigmatization a more nuanced and developed framework: one that sees the interaction between whistleblowers and others as relational. Second, I provide an understanding of the identity “whistleblower” as one that can be temporary and revisable. Research has highlighted how whistleblowing is a process, but little attention has been paid to how one “moves on” from being a whistleblower and the potential stigmatization associated with the role. Rather than assuming a whistleblower is stuck with this identity—and the associated stigma—for life, I provide insight on how “whistleblower” can be a positive label that opens one up to support, and even when it is stigmatized, it does not have to be an end state.

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Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Professor Kate Kenny, Professor Wim Vandekerckhove, and Dr. Erik Mygind du Plessis for their valuable feedback on earlier versions of this piece.

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  1. Whitaker Institute, National University of Ireland Galway, Cairnes Building, Galway, Ireland

    Meghan Van Portfliet

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  1. Meghan Van Portfliet
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This study uses data that were collected as part of a wider project. When those data were collected, all procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional research committee as well as the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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This study uses interviews that were collected as part of a wider project. When interviews were conducted, informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Van Portfliet, M. Resistance Will Be Futile? The Stigmatization (or Not) of Whistleblowers. J Bus Ethics 175, 451–464 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-020-04673-4

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