WHISTLEBLOWING: A NARRATIVE REVIEW AND FUTURE GUIDELINES
Abstract
This narrative review aims to discuss future guidelines for whistleblowing. We focus on “what is whistleblowing and how has the literature defined it?”; “what drives the whistle-blower?”; “how can financial rewards improve whistleblowing?”; and “what is the role of financial penalties in whistleblowing?” We also highlight gaps in the recent literature. Whistleblowing is a complex process that requires further research attention. Value orientation, sociodemographic and organizational characteristics, and financial incentives have been shown to explain and predict whistleblowing behaviour; however, the mixed results in past studies have led to a complicated and fragmented picture. This review aims to bring new insights to researchers in the whistleblowing field, so we can advance the literature, and, consequently, mitigate misconduct.References
Aguinis, H., Villamor, I., Lazzarini, S. G., Vassolo, R. S., Amorós, J. E., &
Allen, D. G. (2020). Conducting Management Research in Latin America: Why and What’s in It for You? Journal of Management, 46(5), 615–636. https://doi.org/10.1177/0149206320901581
Andon, P., Free, C., Jidin, R., Monroe, G. S., & Turner, M. J. (2018). The Impact of Financial Incentives and Perceptions of Seriousness on Whistleblowing Intention. Journal of Business Ethics, 151(1), 165–178. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-016-3215-6
Antinyan, A., Corazzini, L., & Pavesi, F. (2020). Does trust in the government matter for whistleblowing on tax evaders? Survey and experimental evidence. Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 171, 77–95. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jebo.2020.01.014
Association of Certified Fraud Examiners. (2020). Report to the nations on occupational fraud and abuse: Latin America and the Carabbean edition. In ACFE. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118556115.ch38
Baethge, C., Goldbeck-Wood, S., & Mertens, S. (2019). SANRA—a scale for the quality assessment of narrative review articles. Research Integrity and Peer Review, 4(1), 2–8. https://doi.org/10.1186/s41073-019-0064-8
Barrett, K. L., Lynch, M. J., Long, M. A., & Stretesky, P. B. (2018). Monetary Penalties and Noncompliance with Environmental Laws: a Mediation Analysis. American Journal of Criminal Justice, 43(3), 530–550. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12103-017-9428-0
Bearden, W. O., Sharma, S., & Teel, J. E. (1982). Sample Size Effects on Chi Square and Other Statistics Used in Evaluating Causal Models. Journal of Marketing Research, 19(4), 425. https://doi.org/10.2307/3151716
Berger, L., Perreault, S., & Wainberg, J. (2017). Hijacking the moral imperative: How financial incentives can discourage whistleblower reporting. Auditing: A Journal of Practice & Thepry, 36(3), 1–14. https://doi.org/10.2308/ajpt-51663
Bjørkelo, B., Einarsen, S., & Matthiesen, S. B. (2010). Predicting proactive behaviour at work: Exploring the role of personality as an antecedent of whistleblowing behaviour. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 83(2), 371–394. https://doi.org/10.1348/096317910X486385
Bollen, K. A. (1990). Overall fit in covariance structure models: Two types of sample size effects. Psychological Bulletin, 107(2), 256–259. https://doi.org/10.1037//0033-2909.107.2.256
Boo, E., Ng, T. B. P., & Shankar, P. G. (2016). Effects of incentive scheme and working relationship on whistle-blowing in an audit setting. Auditing: A Journal of Practice & Theory, 35(4), 23–38. https://doi.org/10.2308/ajpt-51485
Brabeck, M. (1984). Ethical characteristics of whistle blowers. Journal of Research in Personality, 18(1), 41–53. https://doi.org/10.1016/0092-6566(84)90037-0
Branco, M. C. (2010). Informação sobre combate à corrupção nos relatórios de sustentabilidade das empresas portuguesas. Estudos Do ISCA, 4(2), 1–16.
Brennan, N., & Kelly, J. (2007). A study of whistleblowing among trainee auditors. British Accounting Review, 39(1), 61–87. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bar.2006.12.002
Brewer, G. A., & Seiden, S. C. (1998). Whistle blowers in the federal civil service: New evidence of the public service ethic. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 8(3), 413–439. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429497957
Brink, A. G., Lowe, D. J., & Victoravich, L. M. (2013). The effect of evidence strength and internal rewards on intentions to report fraud in the dodd-frank regulatory environment. Auditing: A Journal of Practice & Theory, 32(3), 87–104. https://doi.org/10.2308/ajpt-50449
Brown, J. O., Hays, J., & Stuebs, M. T. (2016). Modeling accountant whistleblowing intentions: Applying the theory of planned behavior and the fraud triangle. Accounting and the Public Interest, 16(1), 28–56. https://doi.org/10.2308/apin-51675
Brown, M. E., Treviño, L. K., & Harrison, D. A. (2005). Ethical leadership: A social learning perspective for construct development and testing. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 97(2), 117–134. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.obhdp.2005.03.002
Cassematis, P. G., & Wortley, R. (2013). Prediction of Whistleblowing or Non-reporting Observation: The Role of Personal and Situational Factors. Journal of Business Ethics, 117(3), 615–634. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-012-1548-3
Chen, C. X., Nichol, J. E., & Zhou, F. H. (2017). The Effect of Incentive Framing and Descriptive Norms on Internal Whistleblowing. Contemporary Accounting Research, 34(4), 1757–1778. https://doi.org/10.1111/1911-3846.12325
Chiu, R. K. (2003). Ethical Judgment and Whistleblowing Intention: Examinig the Moderating Role of Locus of Control. Journal of Business Ethics, 43, 65–74.
Church, B. K., Kuang, X. (Jason), & Liu, Y. (Sarah). (2019). The effects of measurement basis and slack benefits on honesty in budget reporting. Accounting, Organizations and Society, 72, 74–84. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aos.2018.05.005
Cintya, L., & Yustina, A. I. (2019). From intention to action in whistleblowing: Examining ethical leadership and affective commitment of accountants in Indonesia. International Journal of Business, 24(4), 412–433.
Culiberg, B., & Mihelič, K. K. (2017). The Evolution of Whistleblowing Studies: A Critical Review and Research Agenda. Journal of Business Ethics, 146(4), 787–803. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-016-3237-0
Deegan, C., & Unerman, J. (2011). Financial Accounting Theory (2nd ed.). McGraw-Hill Education. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203784655
Dhamija, S., & Rai, S. (2017). Role of retaliation and value orientation in whistleblowing intentions. Asian Journal of Business Ethics, 37–52. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13520-017-0078-6
Dworkin, T. M., & Baucus, M. S. (1998). Internal vs. external whistleblowers: A comparison of whistleblowering processes. Journal of Business Ethics, 17(12), 1281–1298. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1005916210589
Dyck, A., Morse, A., & Zingales, L. (2010). Who blows the whistle on corporate fraud? Journal of Finance, 65(6), 2213–2253. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-6261.2010.01614.x
Elliston, F., Keenan, J., Lockhart, P., & Van Schaick, J. (1985). Whistleblowing Research: Methodological and Moral Issues. Praeger.
Ethics & Compliance Initiative. (2020). The state of ethics & compliance in the workplace: A Look at Global Trends. In Ethics & Compliance Initiative. https://www.ethics.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Global_Business_Ethics_Survey_2018_Q4_Final.pdf
Feldman, Y., & Lobel, O. (2010). The incentives matrix: The comparative effectiveness of rewards, liabilities, duties, and protections for reporting illegality. Texas Law Review, 88(6), 1151–1211. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1415663
Fritzsche, D. J. (1988). An Examination of Marketing Ethics: Role of the Decision Maker, Consequences of the Decision, Management Position, and Sex of the Respondent. Journal of Macromarketing, 8(2), 29–39. https://doi.org/10.1177/027614678800800205
Gamidullaeva, L. A., Vasin, S. M., & Wise, N. (2020). Increasing small-and-medium-enterprise contribution to local and regional economic growth by assessing the institutional environment. Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development, 27(2), 259-280. Doi: 10.1108/JSBED-07-2019-0219
George, B., Sims, P., McLean, A. N., & Mayer, D. (2007). Discovering your authentic leadership. Harvard Business Review, 85(2).
Gherghina, S. C., Botezatu, M. A., Hosszu, A., Simionescu, L. N. (2020). Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs): The Engine of Economic Growth through Investiments and Innovation. Sustainability, 12(1), 347-369. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12010347.
Gilligan, G., Godwin, A., Hedges, J., & Ramsay, I. (2017). Penalties regimes to counter corporate and financial wrongdoing in australia-views of governance professionals. Law and Financial Markets Review, 11(1), 4–12. https://doi.org/10.1080/17521440.2017.1309162
Glazer, M. (1983). Ten Whistleblowers and How They Fared. The Hastings Center Report, 13(6), 33. https://doi.org/10.2307/3560742
Graham, J. W. (1989). Whistleblowing as organizational citizenship behavior and/or civic duty. The Annual Meeting of the American Society of Criminology.
Hardi, H., Wiguna, M., & Mela, N. F. (2020). The Factors Affecting Intention to Internal Whistleblowing: An Idea of Free Cheating Environment. IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science, 469(1). https://doi.org/10.1088/1755-1315/469/1/012022
Hennequin, E. (2020). What motivates internal whistleblowing? A typology adapted to the French context. European Management Journal, 38(5), 804–813. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.emj.2020.03.005
Heumann, M., Friedes, A., Cassak, L., Wright, W., & Joshi, E. (2013). The World of Whistleblowing: From the Altruist to the Avenger. Public Integrity, 16(1), 25–52. https://doi.org/10.2753/PIN1099-9922160102
Hodgkinson, G. P., & Ford, J. K. (2014). Narrative, meta-analytic, and systematic reviews: What are the differences and why do they matter? Journal of Organizational Behavior, 35(S1), S1–S5. https://doi.org/10.1002/job.1918
Ivanovic-Djukic, M., Lepojevic, V., Stefanovic, S., Stel, A. van, & Ateljevic, J. (2019). Corruption as an Obstacle for Starting a New Business in Serbia. International Review of Entrepreneurship, 17(1), 37-58.
Jensen, J. V. (1987). Ethical tension points in whistleblowing. Journal of Business Ethics, 6(4), 321–328. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00382941
Jensen, M. C., & Meckling, W. H. (1976). Theory of the Firm: Managerial Behavior, Agency Costs and Ownership Sructure. Journal of Financial Economics, 3, 305–360.
Joseph, C., Gunawan, J., Sawani, Y., Rahmat, M., Avelind Noyem, J., & Darus, F. (2016). A comparative study of anti-corruption practice disclosure among Malaysian and Indonesian Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) best practice companies. Journal of Cleaner Production, 112, 2896–2906. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2015.10.091
Jubb, P. B. (1999). Whistleblowing: A restrictive definition and interpretation. Journal of Business Ethics, 21(1), 77–94. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1005922701763
Kaymak, T., Bektas, E. (2014). Corruption in Emerging Markets: A Multidimensional Study. Social Indicators Research, 124(3), 785-805. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-014-0814-4
Keenan, J., & Sims, R. L. (1995). The organizational and intrapersonal influences on whistleblowing. National Academy of Management Meeting, Social Issues in Management Division. https://nsuworks.nova.edu/hcbe_facpres/520/
Krambia-Kapardis, M. (2020). An exploratory empirical study of whistleblowing and whistleblowers. Journal of Financial Crime, 27(3), 755–770. https://doi.org/10.1108/JFC-03-2020-0042
Kumar, M., & Santoro, D. (2017). A justification of whistleblowing. Philosophy and Social Criticism, 43(7), 669–684. https://doi.org/10.1177/0191453717708469
Kurz, T., Thomas, W. E., & Fonseca, M. A. (2014). A fine is a more effective financial deterrent when framed retributively and extracted publicly. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 54, 170–177. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2014.04.015
Lambert, R. A. (2001). Contracting theory and accounting. Journal of Accounting and Economics, 32(1–3), 3–87. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0165-4101(01)00037-4
Latan, H., Chiappetta Jabbour, C. J., & Lopes de Sousa Jabbour, A. B. (2019). ‘Whistleblowing Triangle’: Framework and Empirical Evidence. Journal of Business Ethics, 160(1), 189–204. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-018-3862-x
Lee, H. (2020). The Implications of Organization Structure, Political Control, and Internal System Responsiveness on Whistleblowing Behavior. Review of Public Personnel Administration, 40(1), 155–177.
Liu, S., Liao, J., & Wei, H. (2015). Authentic Leadership and Whistleblowing: Mediating Roles of Psychological Safety and Personal Identification. Journal of Business Ethics, 131, 107–119.
Liu, J., Hu, M., Zhang, H., Carrick, J. (2019). Corruption and Entrepreneurship in Emerging Markets. Emerging Markets Finance and Trade, 55(5), 1051-1068. https://doi.org/10.1080/1540496X.2018.1531242
Liyanarachchi, G. A., & Adler, R. (2011). Accountants’ Whistle-Blowing Intentions: The Impact of Retaliation, Age, and Gender. Australian Accounting Review, 21(2), 167–182. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1835-2561.2011.00134.x
Lourenço, S. M. (2019). Field experiments in managerial accounting research. Foundations and Trends in Accounting, 14(1), 1–72. https://doi.org/10.1561/1400000059
Mesmer-Magnus, J. R., & Viswesvaran, C. (2005). Whistleblowing in organizations: An examination of correlates of whistleblowing intentions, actions, and retaliation. Journal of Business Ethics, 62(3), 277–297. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-005-0849-1
Miceli, M. P., Dozier, J. B., & Near, J. P. (1991). Blowing the Whistle on Data Fudging : A Controlled Field Experiment. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 21(4), 271–295.
Miceli, M. P., & Near, J. P. (1984). The Relationships Among Beliefs, Organizational Position, and Whistle-Blowing Status: A Discriminant Analysis. Academy of Management Journal, 27(4), 687–705. https://doi.org/10.5465/255873
Miceli, M. P., & Near, J. P. (1985). Characteristics of Organizational Climate and Perceived Wrongdoing Associated With Whistle‐Blowing Decisions. Personnel Psychology, 38(3), 525–544. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1744-6570.1985.tb00558.x
Miceli, M. P., & Near, J. P. (1988). Individual and Situational Correlates of Whistle‐Blowing. Personnel Psychology, 41(2), 267–281. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1744-6570.1988.tb02385.x
Miceli, M. P., Near, J. P., & Schwenk, C. R. (1991). Who Blows the Whistle and Why? Industrial and Labor Relations Review, 45(1), 113. https://doi.org/10.2307/2524705
Mischkowski, D., Glöckner, A., & Lewisch, P. (2018). From spontaneous cooperation to spontaneous punishment – Distinguishing the underlying motives driving spontaneous behavior in first and second order public good games. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 149(August 2016), 59–72. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.obhdp.2018.07.001
Nayir, D. Z., & Herzig, C. (2012). Value Orientations as Determinants of Preference for External and Anonymous Whistleblowing. Journal of Business Ethics, 107, 197–213.
Near, J. P., & Miceli, M. P. (1985). Organizational dissidence: The case of whistle-blowing. Journal of Business Ethics, 4, 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-4126-3_8
Near, J. P., & Miceli, M. P. (1996). Whistle-blowing: Myth and reality. Journal of Management, 22(3), 507–526. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0149-2063(96)90034-3
Near, J. P., & Miceli, M. P. (2016). After the wrongdoing: What managers should know about whistleblowing. Business Horizons, 59(1), 105–114. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bushor.2015.09.007
Nonato, L. F. R., Leal, B. A., Ricardo, A., & Rocha, J. (2014). The influence of age and gender on entrepreneurial behaviour characteristics of students and professionals of Business Administration. African Journal of Business Management, 8(21), 1019–1028. https://doi.org/10.5897/AJBM2013.7320
Nosenzo, D. (2016). Employee incentives: Bonuses or penalties? IZA World of Labor, 234, 1–10. https://doi.org/10.15185/izawol.234
Olken, B., Pande, R. (2012). Corruption in Developing Countries. Annual Review of Economics, 4, 479-509. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-economics-080511-110917
Okafor, O. N., Adebisi, F. A., Opara, M., & Okafor, C. B. (2020). Deployment of whistleblowing as an accountability mechanism to curb corruption and fraud in a developing democracy. Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal, 33(6), 1335–1366. https://doi.org/10.1108/AAAJ-12-2018-3780
Park, H., Blenkinsopp, J., & Park, M. (2014). The Influence of an Observer’s Value Orientation and Personality Type on Attitudes Toward Whistleblowing. Journal of Business Ethics, 120(1), 121–129. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-013-1908-7
Parmerlee, M. A., Near, J. P., Jensen, T. C., Administrative, S., Quarterly, S., Mar, N., Parmerlee, M. A., Near, J. P., & Jensen, T. C. (1982). Correlates of Whistle- blowers ’ Perceptions of Organizational Retal- ation. Administrative Science Quarterly, 27(1), 17–34.
Pei, H., Yan, G., & Wang, H. (2020). Monetary punishment promotes cooperation in complex networks. 5th International Conference on Computer and Communication Systems, ICCCS, 552–556. https://doi.org/10.1109/ICCCS49078.2020.9118505
Piquero, N. L., Exum, M. L., & Simpson, S. S. (2005). Integrating the desire-for-control and rational choice in a corporate crime context. Justice Quarterly, 22(2), 252–280. https://doi.org/10.1080/07418820500089034
Rehg, M. T., Miceli, M. P., Near, J. P., & Van Scotter, J. R. (2008). Antecedents and outcomes of retaliation against whistleblowers: Gender differences and power relationships. Organization Science, 19(2), 221–240. https://doi.org/10.1287/orsc.1070.0310
Rodrigues da Silva, G., & Souza, R. G. (2017). The influence of the anonymous whistleblowing channel on accounting fraud detection in organizations. Revista Contabilidade e Organizações, 30, 46–57.
Rose, J. M., Brink, A. G., & Norman, C. S. (2016). The Effects of Compensation Structures and Monetary Rewards on Managers’ Decisions to Blow the Whistle. Journal of Business Ethics, 150(3), 853–862. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-016-3222-7
Saenz, C., & Brown, H. (2018). The disclosure of anticorruption aspects in companies of the construction sector: Main companies worldwide and in Latin America. Journal of Cleaner Production, 196, 259–272. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2018.06.045
Schein, E. H. (1984). Coming To a New Awareness of Organizational Culture. Sloan Management Review, 25(2), 3–16.
Scherbarth, S., & Behringer, S. (2021). Whistleblowing systems: A systematic literature review on the design specifications and the consideration of the risk for organizational insiders to blow the whistle. Corporate Ownership and Control, 18(2), 60–73. https://doi.org/10.22495/cocv18i2art5
Shevchenko, A. (2021). Do financial penalties for environmental violations facilitate improvements in corporate environmental performance? An empirical investigation. Business Strategy and the Environment, 30(4), 1723–1734. https://doi.org/10.1002/bse.2711
Soeken, K. L., & Soeken, D. R. (1987). SoekenWhistleblowers.pdf. Proceedings of the Hearing on HR, 25(1), 156–166.
Song, C., & Han, S. H. (2017). Stock Market Reaction to Corporate Crime: Evidence from South Korea. Journal of Business Ethics, 143(2), 323–351. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-015-2717-y
Stikeleather, B. R. (2016). When do employers benefit from offering workers a financial reward for reporting internal misconduct? Accounting, Organizations and Society, 52, 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aos.2016.06.001
Teichmann, F. M., & Falker, M. C. (2020). Whistleblowing Incentives. Journal of Financial Crime. https://doi.org/10.1108/JFC-10-2019-0132
Tenbrunsel, A. E., & Messick, D. M. (1999). Sanctioning systems, decision frames, and cooperation. Administrative Science Quarterly, 44(4), 684–707. https://doi.org/10.2307/2667052
Tomo, A., De Nito, E., Canonico, P., Mangia, G., & Consiglio, S. (2020). Stories of grey zone between corruption and whistleblowing: insights from the Italian public administration. Meditari Accountancy Research, 28(6), 1037–1058. https://doi.org/10.1108/MEDAR-11-2018-0405
Tourish, D., & Craig, R. (2018). Research Misconduct in Business and Management Studies: Causes, Consequences, and Possible Remedies. Journal of Management Inquiry, 29(2), 174–187. https://doi.org/10.1177/1056492618792621
Transparency International (2021). Corruption Perception Index 2021. In Transparency International. https://images.transparencycdn.org/images/CPI2021_Map_EN.pdf.
Ullah, B. (2020). Financial constraints, corruption, and SME growth in trasition economies. Quartely Review of Economics and Finance, 75, 120-132. 10.1016/j.qref.2019.05.009
Vandekerckhove, W., & Lewis, D. (2012). The Content of Whistleblowing Procedures: A Critical Review of Recent Official Guidelines. Journal of Business Ethics, 108, 253–264.
Vasconcelos, A. F. (2015). Influência do julgamento ético , lócus de controle , clima ético organizacional e materialidade do delito sobre as intenções de Whistleblowing dos auditores internos no Brasil [Universidade Federal da Paraíba]. http://repositorio.unb.br/bitstream/10482/19371/1/2015_AdrianaFernandesVasconcelos.pdf
Wang, Y., Ashton, J. K., & Jaafar, A. (2019). Money shouts! How effective are punishments for accounting fraud? British Accounting Review, 51(5), 100824. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bar.2019.02.006
Wu, X. (2005). Corporate Governance and Corruption. Governance: An International Journal of Policy, Administration and Institutions, 18(2), 151–170. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-0491.2005.00271.x
Yeboah-Assiamah, E., & Alesu-Dordzi, S. (2016). The calculus of corruption: a paradox of ‘strong’ corruption amidst ‘strong’ systems and institutions in developing administrative systems. Journal of Public Affairs, 16(2), 203–216. https://doi.org/10.1002/pa.1576
Zedeck, S. (1977). An information processing model and approach to the study of motivation. Organizational Behavior and Human Performance, 18(1), 47–77. https://doi.org/10.1016/0030-5073(77)90018-6
