Why do employees blow the #whistle? by #Robin #Singh (Published by #ACFE)

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whistleblower isn’t sure about the validity of what they’ve uncovered, they’re unlikely to tell authorities because their career could be destroyed if they’re proven wrong. Whistleblowers might spend years investigating a case before they report it. A whistleblower never wants to be wrong or proven wrong. That’s why even though 45 percent of workers might notice wrongdoing, only 65 percent of them are likely to report what they saw, according to a 2011 National Business Ethics Survey, “Retaliation: When Whistleblowers Become Victims,” tinyurl.com/yd2wt44d. They’ll likely brush it off as anomalies or chalk it up to human error. According to the Ethics & Compliance Initiative, nearly none receive widespread media coverage. (See “Retaliation against Whistle-Blowers: No Good Deed Goes Unpunished,” by Michael McMillan, CFA, Enterprising Investor, Oct. 24, 2012, tinyurl.com/y8b2fa5e.) A whistleblower is counted as one only if they’re employed by the organization that they’re reporting on and can suffer the consequences of their actions from that organization. An outsider, independent person or committee that uncovers wrongdoing often isn’t considered a whistleblower. Psychology behind whistleblowing According to the British Psychological Society, employees can determine if they might fit the profile of a whistleblower if they answer positively to most of these questions: • Are you highly educated? • Do you show good performance in your work? • Do you think something can be done about the problem? • Is your organization seemingly responsive to complaints? • Is the problem not widely known? • Are you a dominant but not always the most agreeable in character? (See “Why do some people choose to blow the whistle,” by Craig Lewis and Laurence Cawley, BBC News, March 24, 2015, tinyurl.com/ybopq9ld.) Whistleblowers commonly talk about how employees and managers in their organizations bully them after they’ve reported problems. Contrary to what some might think, if a whistleblower is a favored employee, then the blowback is far greater. Ethics versus loyalty As Holzrichter discovered, the stakes are quite high for a would-be whistleblower. They need to understand that they’ll pay a price for blowing the whistle on their boss or peers. However, if they decide not to blow the whistle they need to live with that decision, which could have even more negative implications for their psyche. COLUMNIST CFE COMPLIANCE AND ETHICS LEAD OFFICER In “The psychology of whistleblowing” article in Current Opinion in Psychology, the researchers outline a concept they call, “the whistleblower’s dilemma: the fairness-loyalty tradeoff.” The authors write that “moral foundations theory” identifies five basic moral values: harm, fairness, loyalty, authority and purity, which employees consider when they’re faced with deciding whether a behavior is right or wrong. They say that “fairness and loyalty are brought into direct conflict by situations that allow for the possibility of whistleblowing.” They tested the hypothesis “that when norms for fairness dominate norms for loyalty, whistleblowing will increase, whereas when norms for loyalty dominate norms for fairness, whistleblowing will decrease.” In a controlled study, the subjects were asked to rank how likely they were to blow the whistle on various targets, including strangers, close friends, family members and acquaintances for degrees of wrongdoing ranging from stealing $1 out of a restaurant tip jar to killing a store clerk. The results of subsequent studies showed that those who endorsed fairness over loyalty reported greater willingness to be whistleblowers. In fact, whistleblowers were seen to generally speak, write and describe incidents from a fairness point of view rather than the loyalty point of view. Whistleblowers, the researchers found, consistently had an ethical viewpoint, rather than a loyalty point of view. Factors influencing whistleblowing Personal Specific personal factors can identify a whistleblower, the researchers report in the Current Opinion in Psychology article. According to data collected and analyzed, a correlation exists between a certain type of worker and their propensity to blow the whistle, especially if they’re the “fairness” sort of person. While correlation doesn’t always equal causation, this is an interesting look into the type of person who’d place fairness above loyalty to a company and the people that are in it. The idea here is that clearly a high sense of loyalty can deter and hinder whistleblowing, but it doesn’t FRAUD-MAGAZINE.COM MARCH/APRIL 2019 FRAUD MAGAZINE 57
FRAUD BASICS Fundamentals for all necessarily mean that a loyal person won’t blow the whistle. The researchers say that the few employee demographic factors that correlate with higher rates of whistleblowing include: • Increased tenure of employment at the company. • Increased pay. • Increased education. • Being male. Situational According to the Current Opinion in Psychology article, strong predictors of whether an employee will become a whistleblower include: 1) organizational support and encouragement for whistleblowing, 2) adequate dissemination of knowledge of ways to report unethical behavior plus protection from retaliation. Some organizations include these whistleblower protections and employee encouragement in their written offcial policies. Another situational point is the time factor. According to the article, “people are more likely to voice disapproval of others’ behavior when that behavior becomes unethical abruptly rather than slowly over time.” However, the more an employee feels an act of whistleblowing is immediate and noticeable, the more diffcult the reporting of the wrongdoing will be. In a study conducted on university students, when an experimenter asked them if they’d raise ethical questions about inhumane research on humans most of them said they would. (See “To defy of not to defy: An experimental study of the dynamics of disobedience and whistle-blowing,” by Piero Bocchiaro, Philip G. Zimbardo and Paul A. M. Lange, Social Influence, Volume 7, 2012, Issue 1, tinyurl.com/yb7ogxbs.) The majority, 77 percent, complied with the experimenter’s unethical request. The minority was split between those refusing — 14 percent — and those reporting the misconduct to higher authorities — 9 percent. (However, when the experimenter asked an independent sample to predict their behavior, they gave the opposite reaction. Only 4 percent believed they’d obey the authority.) It’s not easy for people to blow the whistle against authority figures, especially when dealing within a group. Group loyalty is a strong feeling. Cultural factors Geographic cultures can affect an employee’s decision to blow the whistle. For example, according to the Current Opinion in Psychology article, those in Asian cultures — including Japan, China and Taiwan — view whistleblowing less favorably than those in the U.S. This could be because collectivist cultures, often in the East, fiercely value loyalty to their authority figures. Western cultures are more individualistic. The researchers say that the amount of collectivism in a culture is positively related to that culture’s propensity for bribery “and the perception that collectives, rather than individuals, are responsible for personal conduct.” Loyalty increases the inclination to overlook unethical acts. Thanks to whistleblowers regardless of their motivations We can’t generalize why a whistleblower decides to report possible unethical or illegal events. Each has unique legal, cultural and personal factors that affect their decision. But we know they will pay a price. They’ll probably lose their job. They might have to endure harassments, ill health and family disruptions. They might never find justice and closure. The path to justice is uneven. Half the battles are lost during the uphill climb of legal assessment. Others are lost because of society’s pressures and loss of livelihood. More are lost in court because of lack of evidence. Only a handful remain to see the light of the day. But because of courageous whistleblowers stepping out of the crowd we see many frauds vanquished and wrongs righted. And for that, we’re grateful. n FM Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and don’t reflect the opinion, views or policy of the Abu Dhabi government or its business entities or its affliates. Robin Singh, CFE, is the compliance and ethics lead offcer at an Abu Dhabi Government entity (healthcare sector). Contact him at robin@whitecollar.org, whitecollar.org and LinkedIn.com/in/ whitecollarinvestigator. Visit Fraud-Magazine.com for an expanded column, which contains worldwide legislation to aid whistleblowers. 58 FRAUD MAGAZINE MARCH/APRIL 2019 FRAUD-MAGAZINE.COM
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Why do employees blow the #whistle? by #Robin #Singh (Published by #ACFE)

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