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What’s in it for Me? An Examination of Accounting Students’ Likelihood to Report Faculty Misconduct

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  • Joanne Jones
  • Gary Spraakman
  • Cristóbal Sánchez-Rodríguez

Abstract

Since there are so few controls over detecting and preventing faculty misconduct, one of the most common ways in which it is discovered is through student reports (in other words, whistleblowing). Given the importance of student reports in bringing to light faculty’s ethical lapses, this paper seeks to understand what factors influence students’ likelihood to report faculty misconduct. We develop an empirical model that integrates the decision process of the Prosocial Organizational Behavior (POB) Model with insights from the emotional perspective on whistleblowing. Specifically, we use an experimental survey to examine how students’ perceived unfairness of the faculty misconduct, feelings of anger, and the students’ self-interest in the situation in conjunction with situational “cues for inaction” lead to the intention to blow the whistle. Overall, the results from our structural model partially support our theoretical model. Interestingly, these findings demonstrate that, in the case of faculty member misconduct, anger and perceptions of unfairness play a greater role than the more rational cost-benefit process of the POB model. These results could aid in development of ethics education for students and could also inform the development of university policies that encourage students to come forward when faced with faculty misconduct. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2014

Suggested Citation

  • Joanne Jones & Gary Spraakman & Cristóbal Sánchez-Rodríguez, 2014. "What’s in it for Me? An Examination of Accounting Students’ Likelihood to Report Faculty Misconduct," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 123(4), pages 645-667, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:123:y:2014:i:4:p:645-667
    DOI: 10.1007/s10551-013-2015-5
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Gibson,Kevin, 2007. "Ethics and Business," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521863797.
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    1. Heungsik Park & Wim Vandekerckhove & Jaeil Lee & Joowon Jeong, 2020. "Laddered Motivations of External Whistleblowers: The Truth About Attributes, Consequences, and Values," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 165(4), pages 565-578, September.
    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. Tamara Poje & Maja Zaman Groff, 2022. "Mapping Ethics Education in Accounting Research: A Bibliometric Analysis," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 179(2), pages 451-472, August.
    4. Clarissa Kirschbichler, 2022. "Ethical Leadership And Its Impact On Whistleblowing," Economy & Business Journal, International Scientific Publications, Bulgaria, vol. 16(1), pages 262-272.
    5. 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.

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