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Whistle‐blowing can play an important role in the internal control environment of an organization, and internal auditors are its natural outlets. This study examines whistle‐blowing complaints received by internal auditors based on survey responses from 129 chief internal auditors of US manufacturing companies. Within the past two years, 71 percent of chief internal auditors received whistle‐blowing complaints, 65 percent of which were found to be true upon investigation. The receipt of whistle‐blowing complaints was positively associated with involvement of internal auditing in monitoring compliance with the corporate code of conduct, and with audit committee support of internal auditing (as evidenced by audit committee involvement in decisions to dismiss the chief internal auditor). These results are consistent with recent calls by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations and others for public companies to maintain and enforce a code of conduct, and by the Blue Ribbon Committee and others about the need for audit committees to deal proactively with internal and external auditors.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the influence of organisational commitment (OC) and corporate ethical values (CEV) on the whistle-blowing intentions of non-public accountants in Barbados.

The study uses a sample of 236 self-administered questionnaires from non-public accountants working in corporate organisations.

OC and CEV significantly influence internal and external whistle-blowing intentions. Non-public accountants with high OC, who also operate in organisations with strong perceived CEV, are more likely to exhibit high internal whistle-blowing intentions and low external whistle-blowing intentions. Non-public accountants with high perceived personal costs, low OC and a low degree of trust and confidence in the reporting systems, cite a general reluctance to whistle-blow internally and externally.

The findings may not be generalisable to other professions. In addition, it utilises a quantitative survey method, which does not allow for further investigation of non-public accountants’ perceptions and feelings.

The study can assist firms in developing effective whistle-blowing mechanisms. The findings show the importance of high OC, strong CEV and reduced personal costs in a whistle-blowing framework.

This study provides evidence of the influence of OC and CEV on whistle-blowing among members of the accounting profession in an emerging economy. The study also provides a whistle-blowing matrix and discusses the unique social and cultural factors influencing the whistle-blowing process in Barbados.

Turkey is required by the international and EU instruments and domestic law to address the issue of whistle-blowing and the protection of whistle-blowers. The purpose of this paper is to analyse Turkish legislation which is applicable to work-related whistle-blowing, the conflict between the worker’s right to “blow the whistle” and the obligation to loyalty and confidentiality. The consequences of groundless or deliberate false disclosures are considered. Comparisons are made with international conventions, the COE Recommendation CM/Rec(2014)7 and the Proposed EU Directive on the Protection of Whistleblowers and ECtHR precedents.

In the first part, this paper reviews the definition of whistle-blowing and whistle-blower. The second part outlines the impact of international and EU Law on Turkish legislation. The third part reviews the Turkish legal framework applicable to whistle-blowing.

Whistle-blowing in the public interest is suggested as a tool to combat corruption worldwide. There is no doubt that some whistle-blowers have been beneficial to society. However without democratic structures to take into account the assessment of the quality of the information, the type of the disclosure and the category of the reporting person, there are downsides to excessive whistle-blowing. Therefore, whistle-blowing should be discussed in the context of democratic societies, and a balanced approach should be adopted to ensure the position of not only whistle-blowers but also the people affected by the reports.

The paper offers new insights into the limits of work-related whistle-blowing within the context of freedom of expression and the right of employees and public officials to petition. The protection of whistle-blowers and the consequences of groundless or deliberate false disclosures under Turkish Law from a comparative perspective are considered.

Whistle‐blowing is the act of speaking out about wrongdoing in the workplace. Adults with learning disabilities are particularly vulnerable to abuse, and care staff play an important role in witnessing and reporting such abuse. This paper explores the experience of whistle‐blowing on abuse in social care settings and looks at how whistle‐blowing can help to protect people with learning disabilities from abuse.

The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of psychological climate perceptions on the employee’s intent to comply with the organization’s whistle-blower policies. This study also endeavors to add evidence to the debate concerning the effectiveness of implementing anti-retaliation measures to improve whistle-blowing behavior. Survey results show that psychological climate perceptions of fairness and commitment to the organization influence the employee’s attitude toward whistle-blower policies, perception of how important others within the organization view the act of whistle-blowing and the employee’s intent to blow the whistle. The results of this study also suggest that anti-retaliation measures used by government policy makers and organizations to improve whistle-blowing behavior may not be an effective strategy. This manuscript discusses the implications of the findings on whistle-blowing behavior and the debate concerning anti-retaliation measures.

Research on whistle-blowing has focused on the questions of who blows the whistle, who experiences retaliation, and who is effective in stopping wrongdoing. In this article, we review research pertinent to the first of these questions. Since the last known review (Near & Miceli, 1996), there have been important theoretical and, to a lesser extent, empirical developments. In addition, the U.S. law is changing dramatically, which may serve to promote valid whistle-blowing, and international interest in whistle-blowing is widespread and increasing. Unfortunately, evidence strongly suggests that media, popular, and regulatory interest is far outpacing the growth of careful scholarly inquiry into the topic, which is a disturbing trend. Here, we argue that the primary causes of the underdevelopment of the empirical literature are methodological, and that workable solutions are needed but very difficult to implement. By calling attention to these issues, we hope to help encourage more research on whistle-blowing.

While Dalton and Radtke (2013) examine the effects of Machiavellianism and an organization's ethical environment within a low moral intensity setting, I examine the effects of Machiavellianism and an organization's ethical environment across both low and high moral intensity settings. Using a sample of 192 MTurk workers (i.e., online labor pool participants from Amazon's Mechanical Turk) and 127 undergraduate accounting students, the results using the full-sample of participants indicate the following: (1) Machiavellianism is negatively associated with whistle-blowing intentions across both low and high moral intensity scenarios; (2) an organization's ethical environment is positively associated with whistle-blowing intentions across both low and high moral intensity scenarios; and (3) in the low moral intensity scenario (but not the high moral intensity scenario), I find an interaction between Machiavellianism and the strength of the ethical environment. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

This study aims to use organisational justice theory to examine variations in the propensity of trainee auditors in South Africa to blow the whistle internally on misconduct by an engagement leader.

Three vignettes describing high and low states of distributive, procedural and interactive justice are presented to a sample of trainee auditors. A questionnaire is used to gauge the likelihood of trainees blowing the whistle after taking into account a number of control variables. Preliminary results are analysed using parametric t-tests and one-way ANOVA’s.

The study finds that the likelihood of trainee auditors reporting an engagement leader for misconduct increases when there is a high level of distributive, interactional and procedural justice. Gender, age, seniority, the importance of religion and performance ratings does not appear to have an effect on the propensity to whistle-blowing.

The growing importance of an effective mechanism for reporting malfeasance is reflected in both the academic and professional literature. Prior research has found that ensuring high levels of organisational justice is one means of promoting whistle-blowing in a professional setting. This paper argues that the same applies to trainee auditors. In turn, this suggests that audit firms wanting to implement sound audit quality control practices should be mindful of how their whistle-blowing policies are implemented and perceived by their junior staff.

This paper is the first to apply organisational justice theory in a South African setting with specific reference to trainee auditors. As such, it makes an important contribution to the literature on whistle-blowing. The findings should also be of interest to the audit profession when seeking to implement effective quality control and monitoring systems, as required by the relevant professional standards.