Suspicion of White-Collar Crime: A Case Study of Retaliation Against Whistle-Blowers

• Author: Petter Gottschalk
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/1057567718814286
• Published date: 01 December 2022
• Date: 01 December 2022
• Subject Matter: Original Articles

Suspicion of White-Collar Crime:

A Case Study of Retaliation

Against Whistle-Blowers

Petter Gottschalk

1

Abstract

Norwegian law regulates and prohibits retaliation against whistle-blowers, but there is no conviction

so far where a court passes a prison sentence because of such crime. Rather, victims of retaliation

have to sue their employer for compensation if they suffer retaliation in the form of job loss or other

consequences. This article starts by briefly reviewing literature on retaliation against whistle-

blowers. Next, we distinguish between retaliation as concrete, individualized measures and reta-

liation as a coherent process over time. The process may start with ignorance, move into rejection,

and finally sanctions. This article continues by presenting the case of two whistle-blowers in a

Norwegian municipality who have experienced retaliation. Then, we apply incident-based and

process-based retaliation measures by comparing classifications in groups and stages. This case study

is a result of critical, provocative, and confrontational action research.

Keywords

whistle-blowing, white-collar crime, fraud examination, retaliation, job loss

Organizations are often depend ent on whistle-blowers to detec t and investigate white-collar

crime. However, retaliation makes informants reluctant to blow the whistle. Whistle-blowing has

been studied for many years in Norway (e.g., Bjørkelo, Einarsen, Nielsen, & Matthiesen, 2011;

Bjørkelo & Matthiesen, 2011; Bjørkelo, Ryberg, Matthiesen, & Einarsen, 2008; Einarsen, 2000;

Gottschalk, 2017; Skivenes & Trygstad, 2016). Research results indicate that there is a fear and a

chance of retaliation after whistle-blowing has occurred. In this article, we explore and categorize

retaliation items and discuss those items related to two whistle-blowers in a Norwegian

municipality.

A whistle-blower is as a person who believes to have discovered or uncovered and therefore

notifies of critical circumstances, illegal activities, or misconduct in an organization in which he or

she works or has worked. The whistle-blower attempts to create attention among recipients who

1

Department of Leadership and Organizational Behavior, BI Norwegian Business School, Oslo, Norway

Corresponding Author:

Petter Gottschalk, Department of Leadership and Organizational Behavior, BI Norwegian Business School, Nydalsveien 37,

Oslo 0484, Norway.

Email: petter.gottschalk@bi.no

International CriminalJustice Review

ª2018 Georgia State University

Article reuse guidelines:

sagepub.com/journals-permissions

DOI: 10.1177/1057567718814286

journals.sagepub.com/home/icj

2022, Vol. 32( 468

–

4) 457

Original Article