Tutorial 4 - Article 2 - The whistleblower's dilemma

Question 1

What is whistleblowing?

Answer 1

The decision to report another person’s unethical behavior to a third party (with authority)

Question 2

What are proposed drivers of whistleblowing decisions?

Answer 2

Differences in people’s valuation of moral norms (fairness versus loyalty)

Question 3

What do norms of fairness and justice demand?

Answer 3

That all persons and groups be treated equally

Question 4

What do norms of loyalty dictate?

Answer 4

Preferential treatment, a responsibility to favor one’s own group over other groups

Question 5

What may influence a decision to take whistleblowing action?

Answer 5

1) Attitudes towards fairness/loyalty
2) the relationship between the offender and the whistleblower

Question 6

Is a participant’s fairness-loyalty score correlated with whistleblowing?

Answer 6

Yes, both when measured, and also when manipulated with a writing task (in a separate study)

Question 7

What was the result of priming fairness-loyalty in an actual whistleblowing exercise (the one with writing out numbers and judging a previous participant’s work)

Answer 7

People in the fairness condition engaged in more whistleblowing behavior

Question 8

How does relationship closeness impact whistleblowing behavior?

Answer 8

Willingness to blow the whistle decreased as relationship closeness increased, but correlation held at each level of closeness