TY - JOUR
T1 - The social psychology of whistleblowing
T2 - An integrated model
AU - Anvari, Farid
AU - Wenzel, Michael
AU - Woodyatt, Lydia
AU - Haslam, S. Alexander
PY - 2019/2/1
Y1 - 2019/2/1
N2 - Whistleblowing is the disclosure of ingroup wrongdoing to an external agency and can have important functions for the regulation of moral and legal conduct. Organizational research has focused largely on the impact of individual and organizational factors, while overlooking the role of group memberships and associated social identities. Further, social psychologists have so far paid little attention to this phenomenon, or else have tended to subsume it within analysis of dissent. To address these lacunae, we present a psychological model of whistleblowing that draws on social identity theorizing (after Tajfel & Turner, 1979). This model describes when and how social identities and different forms of power motivate group members to respond to ingroup wrongdoing by engaging in whistleblowing. Our review of the literature points to the model’s ability to integrate existing evidence while providing direction for future research. We also discuss the model’s capacity to inform whistleblowing policy and procedures.
AB - Whistleblowing is the disclosure of ingroup wrongdoing to an external agency and can have important functions for the regulation of moral and legal conduct. Organizational research has focused largely on the impact of individual and organizational factors, while overlooking the role of group memberships and associated social identities. Further, social psychologists have so far paid little attention to this phenomenon, or else have tended to subsume it within analysis of dissent. To address these lacunae, we present a psychological model of whistleblowing that draws on social identity theorizing (after Tajfel & Turner, 1979). This model describes when and how social identities and different forms of power motivate group members to respond to ingroup wrongdoing by engaging in whistleblowing. Our review of the literature points to the model’s ability to integrate existing evidence while providing direction for future research. We also discuss the model’s capacity to inform whistleblowing policy and procedures.
KW - dissent
KW - organizational commitment
KW - social identity
KW - voice
KW - whistleblowing
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85068862807&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://purl.org/au-research/grants/ARC/110100199
U2 - 10.1177/2041386619849085
DO - 10.1177/2041386619849085
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85068862807
VL - 9
SP - 41
EP - 67
JO - Organizational Psychology Review
JF - Organizational Psychology Review
SN - 2041-3866
IS - 1
ER -