Examining the Effective Factors on Whistle Blowing Intention Among the Employees of Healthcare Sector (Case Study: Employees of Mashhad University of Medical Sciences)
Subject Areas : medical documentsMinoo Afshani 1 , Hojat Vahdati 2 , mohamad hakkak 3 , najmodin moosavi 4
1 - PhD Student of Organizational Behavior, Faculty of Management and Economics, Lorestan University, Khorram Abad, Iran
2 - Associate Professor, Faculty of Management and Economics, Lorestan University, Khorram Abad, Iran
3 - Associate Professor, Faculty of Management and Economics, Lorestan University, Khorram Abad, Iran
4 - Associate Professor, Faculty of Management and Economics, Lorestan University, Khorram Abad , Iran
Keywords: Healthcare Sector, Personality Traits, Organizational Wrongdoing, Situational Variables, Whistle Blowing,
Abstract :
Introduction: whistleblowing is a powerful tool for preventing organizational wrongdoings. Many factors influence on employees' intention to report organizational wrongdoings. Personality and situational variables are the most influential factors. The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between situational variables (characteristics of wrongdoing, the status of wrongdoer) and individual variables (attitude towards whistleblowing, internal locus of control, and moral identity) with the employees' intention to blow the whistle. Method: This is a descriptive-analytical cross-sectional study that was conducted on 242 employees of the Central department of Mashhad University of Medical Sciences. A questionnaire that is made based on previous studies was used to collect the data. Analysis of the data processed using the Partial Least Square (PLS) with Smart PLS software. Results: The amount of standardized coefficients between independent variables and whistleblowing intention were statistically significant (P <0.005), meaning that the internal locus of control, the existence of moral identity, attitude toward whistleblowing, characteristics of wrongdoing and wrongdoer's status have positive and significant effects on individual's decision to report the wrongdoings. Conclusion: Given that individuals with internal locus of control, positive attitude about whist blowing and high morality cannot be able to ignore the organizational wrongdoings, and the status of wrongdoer and characteristics of wrongdoing have significant effects on employees' willingness to whistleblowing, it is better for organizations to use employees with these characteristics at more sensitive or critical places, and make some arrangements such as providing reporting channels in order to facilitate this behavior.
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_||_1- Schultz D, Harutyunyan K. Combating corruption: The Development of Whistleblowing Laws in the United State, Europe, and Armenia, International Comparative Jurisprudence, 2015; 87-97.
2- Downe J, Cowell R, Morgan K. What Determines Ethical Behavior in Public Organizations: Is It Rules or Leadership? Public Administration Review, 2016; 76(6): 898-909.
3- Transparency International. Whistleblowing: An Effective Tool in the Fight Against Corruption. Policy Position1, 2010. Available at: https://www.transparency.org/whatwedo/publication/policy_position. [cited 2010 January 1]
4- Miceli MP, Near JP, Dworkin TM. Whistleblowing in Organizations. New York: Routledge: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates; 2008.
5- Transparency International. Whistleblower Protection in the EU: Analysis of and Recommendations on the Proposed EU Directive, 2018. https://www.transparency.org/whatwedo/publication/whistleblower_protection_in_the_eu_analysis_of_and_recommendations. [cited 2018 July 13]
6- Shahinpoor N, Matt BF. The Power of One: Dissent and Organizational Life. Journal of Business Ethics, 2007; 74: 37 - 48.
7- Hwang D, Staley B, Ying TC, Jyh-Shan L. Confucian Culture and Whistle-blowing by Professional Accountants: An Exploratory Study. Managerial Auditing Journal, 2008; 23(5): 504-526.
8- Kaplan SE, Schultz JJ. Intentions to Report Questionable Acts: An Examination of the Influence of Anonymous Reporting Channel, Internal Audit Quality, and Setting. Journal of Business Ethics, 2007; 71(2), 109-124.
9- Miceli MP, Near JP, Rehg M, Scotter JR. Predicting Employee Reactions to Perceived Organizational Wrongdoing: Demoralization, Justice, Proactive Personality, and Whistle-blowing, Human Relations, 2012; 65(8): 923-54.
10- Grober ED, Bohnen JM. Defining Medical Error. Canadian Journal of Surgery, 2005; 48: 39– 44.
11- Aldiabat Khaldoun M. Philosophical Roots of Classical Grounded Theory. It's Foundations in Symbolic Interactionism. The Qualitative Report, 2011; 16 (4): 1063-1080.
11- Khan MA. Auditors and the Whistle blowing Law, Accountants Today, 2009; 12-14.
12- Ahmad SA, Smith M, Ismail Z. Internal Whistle-blowing Intentions in Malaysia: Factors That Influence Internal Auditors’ Decision-Making Process. International Conference on Business and Economic Research; 2010: 15 - 16.
13- Harland P, Staats H, Wilke HAM. Situational and Personality Factors as Direct or Personal Norm Mediated Predictors of Pro-Environmental Behavior: Questions Derived from Norm Activation Theory. Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 2007; 29(4), 323-334.
14- Coleman N, M ahaffey. Business Student Ethics: Selected Predictors of Attributes Toward Cheating.Teaching Business Ethics, 2000; 4(2):124-136.
15- Dyrud MA. Ethics and Whistleblowing: Moral Quandaries. Washington, Conference for Industry and Education Collaboration, American Society for Engineering Education; 2017.
16- Bjørkelo B, Einarsen S, Matthiesen S.B. Predicting Proactive Behaviour at Work: Exploring the Role of Personality as an Antecedent of Whistleblowing Behavior. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 2010; 83(2): 371- 378.
17- Vadera AK, Vadera RV, Caza BB, Making Sense of Whistle-blowing’s Antecedents: Learning from Research on Identity and Ethics Programs. Bus Ethics, 2009; 19: 553-586.
18- Cassematis P, Wortley R. Prediction of Whistleblowing or Non-reporting Observation: The Role of Personal and Situational Factors. Journal of Business Ethics, 2013; 117(3), 615-634.
19- Curtis MB. Are Audit-Related Ethical Decisions Dependent Upon Mood? Journal of Business Ethics, 2006; 68 (2), 191-209.
20- Cortina LM, Magley VJ. Raising Voice, Risking Retaliation: Events Following Interpersonal Mistreatment in the Workplace. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 2003; 8 (4), 247-265.
21- Joodaki H. Recognizing Probable Corruption in Healthcare System. Institute of Social Security Research. Tehran; 2017: 5-39. (In Persian).
22- Helms JE, Henze KT, Sass TL, Mifsud VA. Treating Cronbach’s Alpha Reliability Coefficients as Data in Counseling Research. The Counseling Psychologist, 2006; 34(5): 630-60.
23- Wen Wu S. Linking Bayesian Networks and PLS Path Modeling for Causal Analysis. Expert Systems with Applications, 2010; 37: 134–139.
24- Lewis D. Whistleblowing in a Changing Legal Climate: Is It Time to Revisit our Approach to Trust and Loyalty at the Workplace? Business Ethics: A European Review, 2011; 20: 71-87.
