IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/jbuset/v120y2014i2p149-164.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Silent Samaritan Syndrome: Why the Whistle Remains Unblown

Author

Listed:
  • Jason MacGregor
  • Martin Stuebs

Abstract

Whistle blowing programs have been central to numerous government, legislative, and regulatory reform efforts in recent years. To protect investors, corporate boards have instituted numerous measures to promote whistle blowing. Despite significant whistle blowing incentives, few individuals blow the whistle when presented with the opportunity. Instead, individuals often remain fallaciously silent and, in essence, become passive fraudsters themselves. Using the fraud triangle and models of moral behavior, we model and analyze fallacious silence and identify factors that may motivate an individual to rationalize fallacious silence. We use a survey of graduate accounting students to test hypothesized factors that contribute to fallacious silence rationalizations in an academic setting. We find evidence that the ability to rationalize fallacious silence is related to community influences and personal traits such as awareness and moral competence. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2014

Suggested Citation

  • Jason MacGregor & Martin Stuebs, 2014. "The Silent Samaritan Syndrome: Why the Whistle Remains Unblown," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 120(2), pages 149-164, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:120:y:2014:i:2:p:149-164
    DOI: 10.1007/s10551-013-1639-9
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/s10551-013-1639-9
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10551-013-1639-9?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Wim Vandekerckhove & David Lewis, 2012. "The Content of Whistleblowing Procedures: A Critical Review of Recent Official Guidelines," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 108(2), pages 253-264, June.
    2. Schwieren, Christiane & Weichselbaumer, Doris, 2010. "Does competition enhance performance or cheating? A laboratory experiment," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 31(3), pages 241-253, June.
    3. Eva Tsahuridu & Wim Vandekerckhove, 2008. "Organisational Whistleblowing Policies: Making Employees Responsible or Liable?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 82(1), pages 107-118, September.
    4. Harold Hassink & Meinderd Vries & Laury Bollen, 2007. "A Content Analysis of Whistleblowing Policies of Leading European Companies," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 75(1), pages 25-44, September.
    5. Gernon, H, 1993. "An Investigation Of The Reporting Of Questionable Acts In An International Setting - Discussion," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31, pages 104-110.
    6. Eileen Taylor & Mary Curtis, 2010. "An Examination of the Layers of Workplace Influences in Ethical Judgments: Whistleblowing Likelihood and Perseverance in Public Accounting," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 93(1), pages 21-37, April.
    7. Heungsik Park & John Blenkinsopp & M. Oktem & Ugur Omurgonulsen, 2008. "Cultural Orientation and Attitudes Toward Different Forms of Whistleblowing: A Comparison of South Korea, Turkey, and the U.K," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 82(4), pages 929-939, November.
    8. Jason MacGregor & Martin Stuebs, 2012. "To Cheat or Not to Cheat: Rationalizing Academic Impropriety," Accounting Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 21(3), pages 265-287, March.
    9. Mathieu Bouville, 2008. "Whistle-Blowing and Morality," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 81(3), pages 579-585, September.
    10. Helen Klein & Nancy Levenburg & Marie McKendall & William Mothersell, 2007. "Cheating During the College Years: How do Business School Students Compare?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 72(2), pages 197-206, May.
    11. Marcia Miceli & Janet Near & Terry Dworkin, 2009. "A Word to the Wise: How Managers and Policy-Makers can Encourage Employees to Report Wrongdoing," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 86(3), pages 379-396, May.
    12. Wim Vandekerckhove & Eva Tsahuridu, 2010. "Risky Rescues and the Duty to Blow the Whistle," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 97(3), pages 365-380, December.
    13. Linn Van Dyne & Soon Ang & Isabel C. Botero, 2003. "Conceptualizing Employee Silence and Employee Voice as Multidimensional Constructs," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(6), pages 1359-1392, September.
    14. Dilek Nayir & Christian Herzig, 2012. "Value Orientations as Determinants of Preference for External and Anonymous Whistleblowing," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 107(2), pages 197-213, May.
    15. Tae-Yeol Kim & Minsoo Kim, 2013. "Leaders’ Moral Competence and Employee Outcomes: The Effects of Psychological Empowerment and Person–Supervisor Fit," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 112(1), pages 155-166, January.
    16. Donald L. McCabe & Linda Klebe Trevino & Kenneth D. Butterfield, 2001. "Dishonesty in Academic Environments," The Journal of Higher Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 72(1), pages 29-45, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Johannes Brinkmann, 2019. "The Potential Use of Sociological Perspectives for Business Ethics Teaching," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 156(1), pages 273-287, April.
    2. Verschuuren, Pim, 2020. "Whistleblowing determinants and the effectiveness of reporting channels in the international sports sector," Sport Management Review, Elsevier, vol. 23(1), pages 142-154.
    3. Logan L. Watts & M. Ronald Buckley, 2017. "A Dual-Processing Model of Moral Whistleblowing in Organizations," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 146(3), pages 669-683, December.
    4. Waseem Yousaf & Raheel Jamil, 2020. "Does Moral Intensity Affect the Whistleblowing Intentions?," iRASD Journal of Management, International Research Alliance for Sustainable Development (iRASD), vol. 2(2), pages 84-99, December.
    5. Hengky Latan & Christian M. Ringle & Charbel Jose Chiappetta Jabbour, 2018. "Whistleblowing Intentions Among Public Accountants in Indonesia: Testing for the Moderation Effects," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 152(2), pages 573-588, October.
    6. Nadia Smaili & Paulina Arroyo, 2019. "Categorization of Whistleblowers Using the Whistleblowing Triangle," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 157(1), pages 95-117, June.
    7. Jawad Khan & Imran Saeed & Muhammad Zada & Amna Ali & Nicolás Contreras-Barraza & Guido Salazar-Sepúlveda & Alejandro Vega-Muñoz, 2022. "Examining Whistleblowing Intention: The Influence of Rationalization on Wrongdoing and Threat of Retaliation," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(3), pages 1-20, February.
    8. Hengky Latan & Charbel Jose Chiappetta Jabbour & Ana Beatriz Lopes de Sousa Jabbour, 2021. "Social Media as a Form of Virtual Whistleblowing: Empirical Evidence for Elements of the Diamond Model," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 174(3), pages 529-548, December.
    9. Farrar, Jonathan & Hausserman, Cass & Rennie, Morina, 2019. "The influence of revenge and financial rewards on tax fraud reporting intentions," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 102-116.
    10. Hengky Latan & Charbel Jose Chiappetta Jabbour & Ana Beatriz Lopes de Sousa Jabbour, 2021. "To Blow or Not to Blow the Whistle: The Role of Rationalization in the Perceived Seriousness of Threats and Wrongdoing," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 169(3), pages 517-535, March.
    11. Hengky Latan & Charbel Jose Chiappetta Jabbour & Ana Beatriz Lopes de Sousa Jabbour, 2019. "‘Whistleblowing Triangle’: Framework and Empirical Evidence," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 160(1), pages 189-204, November.
    12. Hengky Latan & Charbel Jose Chiappetta Jabbour & Murad Ali & Ana Beatriz Lopes de Sousa Jabbour & Tan Vo-Thanh, 2023. "What Makes You a Whistleblower? A Multi-Country Field Study on the Determinants of the Intention to Report Wrongdoing," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 183(3), pages 885-905, March.
    13. Clarissa Kirschbichler, 2022. "Ethical Leadership And Its Impact On Whistleblowing," Economy & Business Journal, International Scientific Publications, Bulgaria, vol. 16(1), pages 262-272.
    14. Elka Johansson & Peter Carey, 2016. "Detecting Fraud: The Role of the Anonymous Reporting Channel," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 139(2), pages 391-409, December.
    15. Saera R. Khan & Lauren C. Howe, 2021. "Concern for the Transgressor’s Consequences: An Explanation for Why Wrongdoing Remains Unreported," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 173(2), pages 325-344, October.
    16. Wim Vandekerckhove & Arron Phillips, 2019. "Whistleblowing as a Protracted Process: A Study of UK Whistleblower Journeys," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 159(1), pages 201-219, September.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Barbara Culiberg & Katarina Katja Mihelič, 2017. "The Evolution of Whistleblowing Studies: A Critical Review and Research Agenda," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 146(4), pages 787-803, December.
    2. Kate Kenny & Marianna Fotaki, 2023. "The Costs and Labour of Whistleblowing: Bodily Vulnerability and Post-disclosure Survival," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 182(2), pages 341-364, January.
    3. Dina El-Bassiouny & Amr Kotb & Hany Elbardan & Noha El-Bassiouny, 2023. "To Blow or Not to Blow the Whistle? An Islamic Framework," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 187(2), pages 385-404, October.
    4. Wim Vandekerckhove & David Lewis, 2012. "The Content of Whistleblowing Procedures: A Critical Review of Recent Official Guidelines," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 108(2), pages 253-264, June.
    5. Lee, Gladys & Xiao, Xinning, 2018. "Whistleblowing on accounting-related misconduct: A synthesis of the literature," Journal of Accounting Literature, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 22-46.
    6. Muel Kaptein, 2022. "How Much You See Is How You Respond: The Curvilinear Relationship Between the Frequency of Observed Unethical Behavior and The Whistleblowing Intention," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 175(4), pages 857-875, February.
    7. P. Cassematis & R. Wortley, 2013. "Prediction of Whistleblowing or Non-reporting Observation: The Role of Personal and Situational Factors," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 117(3), pages 615-634, October.
    8. Wim Vandekerckhove, 2022. "Is It Freedom? The Coming About of the EU Directive on Whistleblower Protection," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 179(1), pages 1-11, August.
    9. Pietro Previtali & Paola Cerchiello, 2022. "Organizational Determinants of Whistleblowing. A Study of Italian Municipalities," Public Organization Review, Springer, vol. 22(4), pages 903-918, December.
    10. Dilek Zamantılı Nayır & Michael T. Rehg & Yurdanur Asa, 2018. "Influence of Ethical Position on Whistleblowing Behaviour: Do Preferred Channels in Private and Public Sectors Differ?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 149(1), pages 147-167, April.
    11. Nadia Smaili & Paulina Arroyo, 2019. "Categorization of Whistleblowers Using the Whistleblowing Triangle," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 157(1), pages 95-117, June.
    12. Ignatowski Grzegorz, 2023. "Problems with the Concept of Whistleblowing in the Intercultural Perspective and the EU Directive 2019/1937," Journal of Intercultural Management, Sciendo, vol. 15(2), pages 78-103, June.
    13. Sheng-min Liu & Jian-qiao Liao & Hongguo Wei, 2015. "Authentic Leadership and Whistleblowing: Mediating Roles of Psychological Safety and Personal Identification," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 131(1), pages 107-119, September.
    14. Verschuuren, Pim, 2020. "Whistleblowing determinants and the effectiveness of reporting channels in the international sports sector," Sport Management Review, Elsevier, vol. 23(1), pages 142-154.
    15. Awosusi, Charles Temitope & Ayemidotun Damola. & Ajayi, Olorunfemi Samuel, 2023. "Gender, Religiosity and Internal Whistle blowing Intentions in the Nigeria Banking Industry," International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS), vol. 7(9), pages 195-204, September.
    16. Elka Johansson & Peter Carey, 2016. "Detecting Fraud: The Role of the Anonymous Reporting Channel," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 139(2), pages 391-409, December.
    17. Kaptein, S.P., 2009. "From Inaction to External Whistleblowing: The Influence of the Ethical Culture of Organizations on Employee Responses to Observed Wrongdoing," ERIM Report Series Research in Management ERS-2009-047-ORG, Erasmus Research Institute of Management (ERIM), ERIM is the joint research institute of the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University and the Erasmus School of Economics (ESE) at Erasmus University Rotterdam.
    18. Hengky Latan & Charbel Jose Chiappetta Jabbour & Ana Beatriz Lopes de Sousa Jabbour, 2019. "Ethical Awareness, Ethical Judgment and Whistleblowing: A Moderated Mediation Analysis," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 155(1), pages 289-304, March.
    19. Hengky Latan & Charbel Jose Chiappetta Jabbour & Ana Beatriz Lopes de Sousa Jabbour, 2021. "To Blow or Not to Blow the Whistle: The Role of Rationalization in the Perceived Seriousness of Threats and Wrongdoing," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 169(3), pages 517-535, March.
    20. Saera R. Khan & Lauren C. Howe, 2021. "Concern for the Transgressor’s Consequences: An Explanation for Why Wrongdoing Remains Unreported," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 173(2), pages 325-344, October.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:120:y:2014:i:2:p:149-164. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.