The effects of retaliation on whistleblowing intentions in China banking industry

Purpose - This paper aims to examine the predictors of whistleblowing behaviors by comparing the importance of a negative perception – fear of whistleblowing – relative to positive perceptions such as ethical orientation, professional identity and supervisor trust. Design/methodology/approach - The proposed hypotheses were tested using relative regression analysis with data collected from 471 banking employees in nine Chinese organizations. Findings - The findings conclude that fear of retaliation was dominant in predicting external, but not internal, whistleblowing, and the beneficial effects of positive perceptions on internal whistleblowing are contingent on employees’ fear of retaliation. Therefore, organizations should survey employees’ perceptions of whistleblowing and their company retaliation policies to accomplish the goal of promoting ethical behaviors while discouraging unethical behaviors. Practical implications - The findings suggest that efforts to promote whistleblowing in organizations may be most successful if the focus is placed on deterring retaliation and highlighting for employees that they will be protected from retaliation. Originality/value - The relative weights analyses suggest that fear of retaliation from whistleblowing is the dominant predictor of external whistleblowing; as fear of retaliation increases, so does the desire to blow the whistle externally.