An exploratory empirical study of whistleblowing and whistleblowers

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to develop a profile of whistleblowers and to determine whether whistleblowing legislation would encourage those individuals to bring to light some illegal or unethical behaviour that otherwise would remain in the shadows.

Design/methodology/approach

Having identified whistleblowing correlation, a survey was carried out in Cyprus of actual whistleblowers and could-have-been whistleblowers.

Findings

Males between 46 and55 years of age, regardless of whether they have dependents or hold senior positions in organizations are significantly more likely to blow the whistle. However, could-have-been whistleblowers did not go ahead because they felt that the authorities would not act on their information.

Research limitations/implications

Because of the sensitive nature of the research topic and the fact that only whistleblowers or intended whistleblowers could participate in the study, the sample size is limited as a result. This, in turn, limits both the number of respondents in each category (actual and intended) as well as constrains the statistical analysis that could be carried out on the data.

Practical implications

It remains to be seen whether EU Member States shall implement the European Directive 2019/1937 on the protection of persons who report breaches of Union Law, in its entirety by the due date, namely December 2021.

Originality/value

This study provides a literature review of whistleblowing and reports an original survey against the backdrop of the European Directive.

Citation

Krambia-Kapardis, M. (2020), "An exploratory empirical study of whistleblowing and whistleblowers", Journal of Financial Crime, Vol. 27 No. 3, pp. 755-770. https://doi.org/10.1108/JFC-03-2020-0042