A Psychological Process of Bureaucratic Whistleblowing: Applying the Theory of Planned Behavior

• Author: Minsung Michael Kang,Hongseok Lee,Sun Young Kim
• DOI: 10.1177/02750740211003345
• Published date: 01 July 2021
• Date: 01 July 2021
• Subject Matter: Articles

https://doi.org/10.1177/02750740211003345

American Review of Public Administration

2021, Vol. 51(5) 374 –392

© The Author(s) 2021

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DOI: 10.1177/02750740211003345

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Article

Introduction

In the public sector, whistleblowing has been considered

as a mechanism for holding public organizations account-

able to the rule of law and citizens (Bowman, 1980; Brewer

& Selden, 1998; Cooper, 1998; Hill & Lynn, 2015; Perry,

1993). To amplify this positive function in the bureau-

cracy, whistleblowing has been “institutionalized” in every

democratic society, with a strong belief that “open discus-

sion strengthens, not weakens, democracy” (Bowman,

1980, p. 19). Although not all employees may blow the

whistle with altruistic motives (Miceli et al., 2008; Perry,

1993), research has shown that whistleblowers are, in gen-

eral, employees who are committed to addressing organi-

zational wrongdoings at the risk of retaliation (Brewer &

Selden, 1998; Caillier, 2012). Besides identifying and

addressing organizational wrongdoings, whistleblowing, if

managed appropriately, can improve organizational pro-

cesses and culture in a way that more employees pursue

ethical decision-making and comfortably discuss and

challenge unfair personnel practices (Lavena, 2016;

Rothwell & Baldwin, 2006).

Whistleblowing is a psychological process that involves

the calculation of risks and benefits (Graham, 1986; Miceli

et al., 2008). In short, employees are more likely to blow the

whistle when they perceive that observed wrongdoings are

serious enough to require their actions and their organiza-

tions are willing to correct the reported wrongdoings (Miceli

et al., 2008). Research has examined a number of individual

(e.g., age, gender, and education) and organizational (e.g.,

organizational structure, and organizational climate) factors

1003345ARPXXX10.1177/02750740211003345The American Review of Public AdministrationLee et al.

research-article2021

1University at Albany, State University of New York, NY, USA

2Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, Seoul, South Korea

Corresponding Author:

Hongseok Lee, University at Albany, SUNY, Department of Public

Administration and Policy, Milne Hall 135 Western Avenue, Albany, NY

12222, USA.

Email: hlee5@albany.edu

A Psychological Process of Bureaucratic

Whistleblowing: Applying the Theory of

Planned Behavior

Hongseok Lee1, Minsung Michael Kang1, and Sun Young Kim2

Abstract

Whistleblowing is a psychological process that involves the calculation of risks and benefits. While there exists a broad

range of research on whistleblowing in the public sector, previous studies have not examined its entire process due to

the limited focus on either whistleblowing intention or whistleblowing behavior. This study aims to fill this gap by applying

the theory of planned behavior (TPB) to the whistleblowing context. Specifically, we examine how individual beliefs about

the likely consequences of whistleblowing (attitude toward whistleblowing), others’ expectations about whistleblowing

(subjective norm), and the capability of blowing the whistle (perceived behavioral control) influence public employees’

actual whistleblowing by way of their intention to report wrongdoings. A series of structural equation models are tested

using data from the 2010 Merit Principles Survey. The findings show that the more the employees perceive that the

consequences of whistleblowing are important, the more the key referents support whistleblowing, and the more the

protections for whistleblowers are available, the more likely are their intentions to disclose wrongdoings and then actually

engage in whistleblowing behavior. We conduct additional analyses for internal and external whistleblowers separately and

find that there are both meaningful similarities and differences between the two groups. This study provides support for the

validity of TPB as a theoretical framework for better understanding and explicating the psychological process of bureaucratic

whistleblowing.

Keywords

whistleblowing intention, whistleblowing behavior, theory of planned behavior, U.S. federal government, structural equation

modeling

Lee et al. 375

that facilitate or deter whistleblowing (Mesmer-Magnus &

Viswesvaran, 2005; Miceli et al., 2008).

It should be noted that previous research can be divided

into one group of studies that have examined whistleblowing

intention (Caillier, 2015; Chang et al., 2017; Cho & Song,

2015; Kwon et al., 2021; Ugaddan & Park, 2019) and another

group that has focused on self-reported whistleblowing behav-

ior (Caillier, 2017; Jeon, 2017; Lavena, 2016; Lee, 2020;

Taylor, 2018). Despite the potential difference between inten-

tion and behavior, most research has relied on empirical evi-

dence regarding whistleblowing intention to make inferences

about whether employees would blow the whistle in certain

contexts, grounded on the assumption that whistleblowing

intention is a reasonable proxy for actual whistleblowing (Cho

& Song, 2015; Mesmer-Magnus & Viswesvaran, 2005; Patel,

2003).

Whether behavioral intention aligns with actual behavior

has been a long-standing question in the field of psychology,

organizational ethics, and other related disciplines (Ajzen,

1991; Sheeran, 2002). However, the empirical evidence for

the link between the two has been mixed (Sheeran, 2002).

This link is likely to be particularly weak in the case of whis-

tleblowing because engaging in such behavior involves

greater costs. In other words, employees with strong motives

to disclose organizational wrongdoings may suppress their

whistleblowing intention due to perceived risks to their con-

tinued employment or career advancement, or other psycho-

logical factors (Mesmer-Magnus & Viswesvaran, 2005;

Miceli et al., 2008; Miller & Grush, 1988).

Based on their review of empirical research on whistle-

blowing, Mesmer-Magnus and Viswesvaran (2005) show

that factors such as organizational climate and threat of retal-

iation predict whistleblowing intention and behavior differ-

ently or in the same direction but with different magnitudes.

They conclude that “a complete model of the whistleblowing

process requires the identification and explication of the

entire process (from observation, to intent, to action, and all

steps between)” (Mesmer-Magnus & Viswesvaran, 2005, p.

292). Aligned with this view, some public administration

scholars acknowledge the need for distinguishing whistle-

blowing intention from whistleblowing behavior (Caillier,

2017; Cho & Song, 2015; Lee, 2020; Taylor, 2018). Thus,

studying whistleblowing intention alone, without adequately

accounting for its relationship with actual whistleblowing,

might be less helpful for offering public managers sound

advice on whistleblowing management.

In an effort to address this gap, this study aims to apply

the theory of planned behavior (TPB) to the whistleblowing

context, with the theoretically guided assumption that a per-

son’s behavior is determined by behavioral intention shaped

by behavior-related beliefs (Ajzen, 1991). Specifically, we

examine the links between whistleblowing-related beliefs,

whistleblowing intention, and actual whistleblowing among

U.S. federal employees. Whistleblowing in the U.S. federal

government has received continued attention, and efforts

have been made to protect federal whistleblowers from retal-

iation, as shown in a variety of whistleblower protection

laws and management practices (U.S. Governmental

Accountability Office [U.S. GAO], 2019b; U.S. MSPB,

2010; Peffer et al., 2015). Building upon the TPB, this study

investigates how three types of whistleblowing-related atti-

tudes and perceptions—(a) beliefs about the likely conse-

quences of whistleblowing (attitude toward whistleblowing);

(b) others’ expectations about or pressure for whistleblowing

(subjective norm); and (c) perceived capability of blowing

the whistle (perceived behavioral control)—influence fed-

eral employees’ actual whistleblowing behavior by way of

their intention to report wrongdoings.

The TPB has been used to study whistleblowing in cases

of police officers (Park & Blenkinsopp, 2009), accountants

(Brown et al., 2016; Latan et al., 2018), and government

auditors (Rustiarini & Sunarsih, 2017). To our knowledge,

however, few studies have examined the entire process of

whistleblowing by exploring the links among whistleblow-

ing-related beliefs, whistleblowing intention, and whistle-

blowing behavior all together. Instead, most research has

focused on the relationship between the three aforemen-

tioned beliefs and whistleblowing intention, mainly due to

the difficulty in obtaining data on actual whistleblowing

(Chiu, 2003; Sims & Keenan, 1998).

To address these limitations in the literature and better

understand the whistleblowing process, we use the 2010

Merit Principles Survey (MPS), a unique federal survey that

enables researchers to operationalize both whistleblowing

intention and behavior (Caillier, 2017; Cho & Song, 2015;

Jeon, 2017; Lee, 2020). In addition, we conduct subgroup

analyses by separating internal and external whistleblowers,

given that employees choose to report organizational wrong-

doings either internally or externally depending on different

individual and organizational factors (Caillier, 2017; Lee,

2020; Sims & Keenan, 1998).

The remainder of this study is structured as follows. First,

we review the literature on whistleblowing intention, behav-

ior, and whistleblowing as a planned behavior. Second, we

propose research hypotheses based on the literature review

combined with an application of TPB in the U.S. federal gov-

ernment setting. Third, our study design, analysis, and find-

ings will be provided and discussed. Fourth, we discuss

theoretical and practical implications of our findings and

conclude with the study’s limitations and directions for

future research.

Literature Review

Whistleblowing has received continued attention in public

administration scholarship, which has regarded it as a

means for internal control for the bureaucracy (Bowman,

1980; Cooper, 1998). Whistleblowing is defined as “the

disclosure by organization members (former or current) of

illegal, immoral, or illegitimate practices” (Near & Miceli,