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The purpose of this paper is to explain the effect of perceived ethical leadership and perceived distributive justice on internal whistleblowing intention through trust in leader as a mediator.

Following an empirical design, data were collected from 1,296 employees of Turkish financial institutions, located in Istanbul. To test four hypotheses structural equation modelling was applied.

Results reveal that trust in a leader fully mediates the positive effects of both ethical leadership and distributive justice on the internal whistleblowing intention.

This study enhances the understanding of the ethical leadership perception and distributive justice affecting the internal whistleblowing intention in Turkey that is a developing country. Although numerous studies on whistleblowing have been conducted, this study’s originality and contribution lay in the examination of trust in the leader as a missing link between the direct relations.

The Dodd-Frank Financial Reform Act sets new whistleblowing standards for internal accountants and external auditors who fail to resolve differences internally with top management on financial reporting matters. Whistleblowers are eligible to receive a financial reward under Dodd-Frank if they “voluntarily” provide “original” information and meet other criteria. Interpretation 102-4 of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants Code establishes reporting obligations for external auditors to meet the requirements of Dodd-Frank. The purpose of this paper is to critically evaluate the standards to better understand the whistleblowing process. A review of the literature identifies areas of concern in deciding whether to blow the whistle. The paper contributes to the literature by integrating thoughts, ideas, and issues raised by prior researchers and considerations specific to the whistleblowing process. The analysis results in the proposal of specific unanswered questions about the process that can guide future researchers.

This paper investigates the challenges and opportunities for the deployment of whistleblowing as an accountability mechanism to curb corruption and fraud in a developing country. Nigeria is the institutional setting for the study.

Adopting an institutional theory perspective and a survey protocol of urban residents in the country, the study presents evidence on the whistleblowing program introduced in 2016. Nigeria’s whistleblowing initiative targets all types of corruption, including corporate fraud.

This study finds that, even in the context of a developing country, whistleblowing is supported as an accountability mechanism, but the intervention lacks awareness, presents a high risk to whistleblowers and regulators, including the risk of physical elimination, and is fraught with institutional and operational challenges. In effect, awareness of whistleblowing laws, operational challenges and an institutional environment conducive to venality undermine the efficacy of whistleblowing in Nigeria.

The study presents a model of challenges and opportunities for whistleblowing in a developing democracy. The authors argue that the existence of a weak and complex institutional environment and the failure of program institutionalization explain those challenges and opportunities. The authors also argue that a culturally anchored and institutionalized whistleblowing program encourages positive civic behavior by incentivizing citizens to act as custodians of their resources, and it gives voice to the voiceless who have endured decades of severe hardship and loss of dignity due to corruption.

Unethical business decisions and accounting fraud have occurred as a result of lapses in ethical sensitivity and judgment. The Association for Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE) estimates that a typical organization loses 5% of its total yearly revenues to fraud; globally this translates into losses of over three trillion dollars each year (ACFE, 2016). Regulations such as the Dodd-Frank Whistleblower Program and the Sarbanes-Oxley Act encourage reporting wrongdoing to mitigate fraud losses. Although there are many studies that explore the characteristics of whistleblowers, there are few studies that have examined the impact of an individual’s level of moral reasoning on whistleblowing intentions for financial statement fraud. This study offers several contributions over prior research by exploring the impact of two measures of moral reasoning (P-score and the N2-score) on decisions to whistleblow to either internal or external reporting outlets. This study finds that an individual’s level of moral reasoning impacts whistleblowing intentions to internal management, but an individual’s level of moral reasoning does not impact decisions to whistleblow externally. The practical implications of these findings are discussed.

This chapter explores cultural factors that influence the propensity to blow-the-whistle in China, Taiwan, Russia, and the United States. This study found that culture and traditions have strong impact on the propensity of whistleblowing. This research analyzed 1,541 working adults in China, Taiwan, Russia, and the United States. Statistical analysis of self-developed questionnaires reveal that: (a) Americans have a greater disposition to engage in whistleblowing than Chinese, Taiwanese, and Russian; (b) Americans have a smallest level of fear of retaliation to whistleblowers than Chinese, Taiwanese, and Russian; (c) the intention of Chinese, American, and Taiwanese to whistle-blow is influenced to a greater degree by position of wrongdoers than that of Russian; and (d) guanxi (personal relationships or networks) has a greater effect on the propensity to whistle-blow for Chinese and Taiwanese than for Americans and Russian. Auditors and managers need to be aware that employees in different cultures respond differently to factors that influence whistleblowing activities. The results of this study will help auditors and managers better assess risk and the effectiveness of internal controls and ethical standards.

Employment law recognised the value of whistleblowing with the enactment of the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998, protecting a ‘worker’ against dismissal and victimisation. Whistleblowers are particularly vulnerable in the gig economy as they may fall outside the statutory definition of ‘worker’ for the purposes of the whistleblowing legislation. This makes a study of whistleblowing in the gig economy pertinent. This chapter explores the statutory definition of ‘worker’ with regard to the current whistleblowing provisions and considers the barriers it presents for gig workers. Judicial interpretation of the definition is examined through an analysis of recent case law that shows much inconsistency and a conflict of judicial approach. The resulting blurred boundaries of the legal term leave a gig worker uncertain as to the level of their protection for blowing the whistle. The need for reform to protect individuals in a wide range of working relationships is clear. It is argued that the new EU Whistleblowing Directive, in protecting ‘work-related activity’, provides better protection for all whistleblowers. The role of human rights in extending the status of work is also advanced. Finally, the implications of developments in this area for key stakeholders in the gig economy are considered highlighting the importance of creative new approaches to give voice to all workers.

Moral intensity is the degree of feeling we have about the consequences of moral choices, similar, for example, to those perceived for crimes, from petty larceny to murder. Moral intensity is thought to increase moral sensitivity and judgment. Because the accounting professions require members to respond to accounting fraud with more sensitivity and intensity, we examine this response in 220 professional accountants (mostly Certified Public Accountants) under a controlled experiment using two different cases. We examine the first three parts of the Rest (1986) model including ethical evaluation, judgment, and intention to act. We measure moral intensity in the accountant’s perception of overall harm and societal pressure. As in prior research, we find that the degree of moral intensity may be contextual. We find that the ethical evaluations may become affected by perceived overall harm, and whistleblowing intentions by perceived societal pressure. However, in both cases, the professional’s judgments are most affected by moral intensity. Consistent with prior research, whistleblowing intentions may involve many other mitigating variables, such as audit reporting or non-audit reporting limited by codes of conduct. These findings relate to the increasing attention paid by the SEC to finding accounting fraud.

This manuscript makes three important contributions to the existing literature. First, there are few studies in this area and Jones (1991) identifies that moral intensity is issue contingent; therefore, replication studies using different scenarios are needed. Second, Bailey, Scott, and Thoma (2010) have suggested that accounting ethics research has focused too narrowly on Component II of Rest’s Four-Component Model. None of the previous studies looked at all three steps in Rest’s Model; therefore, our manuscript provides an important contribution over the other previous studies. Third, our sample uses professionals and not students as surrogates for professionals.

The purpose of this paper is to survey UAE legislative initiatives affecting whistleblowing. Many studies claim that whistleblowing is one of the most effective mechanisms in fighting corruption. Either done merely to satisfy regulatory requirements or in genuine efforts to counter internal fraud, many organizations around the world incorporate whistleblowing programs. However, a lack of comprehensive whistleblower protection remains the main impediment for reporting misconduct or wrongdoing. A country’s legislative framework and its cultural and socio-economic specifics impact the effectiveness of such protective measures. Moreover, in the absence of comprehensive, stand-alone whistleblowing laws, whistleblowers can become victims not only of employers’ retaliatory actions but also of criminal and civil charges.

This paper surveys the UAE law and regulations in regard to whistleblower protection. It also raises concerns regarding their effectiveness based on the county’s unique socio-economic and cultural environment and their interplay with other legislations, which can potentially make whistleblowing a criminal offense.

In the absence of stand-alone whistleblowing legislation, cultural aspects and other laws can serve as deterrents for whistleblowers. It is crucial for a jurisdiction to set up an effective legal and regulatory framework to enable synergy across different laws and agencies involved. Implementation of comprehensive, stand-alone whistleblowing legislation might help provide legal certainty and clarity.

In the absence of empirical studies on UAE whistleblowing, the researcher primarily relied on English translations of the country’s laws and regulations, official press releases and English media sources.

This study introduces relevant background to organizations establishing their own whistleblowing policies and employee training.

This paper examines the effectiveness of whistleblowing legislative initiatives through the prism of the country’s cultural, socio-economic and legal environment.

The act of reporting illegal and unethical practices in the workplace has become an increasingly important issue for researchers and organizational management over the past several decades. This study tested a model of whistleblowing in which perceived organizational retaliation and upward communication satisfaction were hypothesized to act as predictors of types of whistleblowing intentions using a representative sample of employees working in Kirklareli, Turkey (n = 1,012). Structural equation modeling indicated that perceptions of upward communication satisfaction were positively associated to blowing the whistle to internal channels like immediate supervisor and upper management and negatively related to staying silent and external whistleblowing. In addition, perceived threat of retaliation from an organization was negatively related to blowing the whistle to internal channels and positively related to staying silent and external whistleblowing. The present study has contributed to our understanding of whistleblowing in a relatively new national context by clarifying its associations with perceived organizational retaliation and communication with management.

Despite various regulatory frameworks to combat unethical conduct, fraud and corruption remain alarmingly high. While whistleblowing is an important mechanism to identify and prevent unethical conduct, there is a lack of empirical studies on this issue in the Malaysian context, especially whistleblowing within the audit firms. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to examine the whistleblowing intention of external auditors in Malaysia and the factors influencing this intention.

Data were collected using a structured questionnaire that was sent by post to external auditors throughout Malaysia. Participants were selected using a convenience non-probability sampling technique. A total of 274 responses were analyzed. SmartPLS version 3.2.8 was used for the analysis.

Professional commitment and independence commitment had a positive influence on whistleblowing intention, supporting the argument that professional factors can increase the intention of the external auditors to whistleblow. Perceived behavioural control had a positive relationship with whistleblowing intention, while there is no evidence to indicate that attitude and subjective norms influence whistleblowing intention.

This study explored whistleblowing among external auditors in Malaysia by focussing on the professional factors of professional commitment and independence commitment, which were hypothesized to be key factors in intention to whistleblow. These factors were incorporated with a multi-component of attitude, subjective norms and perceived behavioural control, which were derived from the theory of planned behaviour. The findings have implications for the auditing profession because they provide a better understanding of the factors that influence the whistleblowing intention of external auditors.