IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/jbuset/v131y2015i1p107-119.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Authentic Leadership and Whistleblowing: Mediating Roles of Psychological Safety and Personal Identification

Author

Listed:
  • Sheng-min Liu
  • Jian-qiao Liao
  • Hongguo Wei

Abstract

The issues of organizational wrongdoing damage organizational performance and limit the development of organizations. Although organizational members may know the wrongdoing and have the opportunity to blow the whistle, they would keep silent because of the interpersonal risks. However, leaders can play an important role in shaping employee whistleblowing. This study focuses on discovering the mechanisms of how authentic leaders influence employee whistleblowing with a sample from China. Results demonstrate that authentic leadership is positively related to internal whistleblowing. Team psychological safety partly mediates the relationship between authentic leadership and internal whistleblowing. Personal identification partly mediates the relationship between authentic leadership and internal whistleblowing. The study contributes to the extant theory by filling the gap between leadership and whistleblowing. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2015

Suggested Citation

  • 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.
  • Handle: RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:131:y:2015:i:1:p:107-119
    DOI: 10.1007/s10551-014-2271-z
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/s10551-014-2271-z
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10551-014-2271-z?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. Luthans, Fred & Avolio, Bruce J. & Walumbwa, Fred O. & Li, Weixing, 2005. "The Psychological Capital of Chinese Workers: Exploring the Relationship with Performance," Management and Organization Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 1(2), pages 249-271, July.
    2. 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.
    3. Heungsik Park & John Blenkinsopp, 2009. "Whistleblowing as Planned Behavior – A Survey of South Korean Police Officers," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 85(4), pages 545-556, April.
    4. 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.
    5. Erika Henik, 2008. "Mad as Hell or Scared Stiff? The Effects of Value Conflict and Emotions on Potential Whistle-Blowers," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 80(1), pages 111-119, June.
    6. Shani Robinson & Jesse Robertson & Mary Curtis, 2012. "The Effects of Contextual and Wrongdoing Attributes on Organizational Employees’ Whistleblowing Intentions Following Fraud," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 106(2), pages 213-227, March.
    7. Seifert, Deborah L. & Sweeney, John T. & Joireman, Jeff & Thornton, John M., 2010. "The influence of organizational justice on accountant whistleblowing," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 35(7), pages 707-717, October.
    8. Michael T. Rehg & Marcia P. Miceli & Janet P. Near & James R. Van Scotter, 2008. "Antecedents and Outcomes of Retaliation Against Whistleblowers: Gender Differences and Power Relationships," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 19(2), pages 221-240, April.
    9. Kanika Bhal & Anubha Dadhich, 2011. "Impact of Ethical Leadership and Leader–Member Exchange on Whistle Blowing: The Moderating Impact of the Moral Intensity of the Issue," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 103(3), pages 485-496, October.
    10. Janet P. Near & Terry Morehead Dworkin & Marcia P. Miceli, 1993. "Explaining the Whistle-Blowing Process: Suggestions from Power Theory and Justice Theory," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 4(3), pages 393-411, August.
    11. 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.
    12. Hannes Leroy & Michael Palanski & Tony Simons, 2012. "Authentic Leadership and Behavioral Integrity as Drivers of Follower Commitment and Performance," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 107(3), pages 255-264, May.
    13. Near, Janet P. & Rehg, Michael T. & Van Scotter, James R. & Miceli, Marcia P., 2004. "Does Type of Wrongdoing Affect the Whistle-Blowing Process?," Business Ethics Quarterly, Cambridge University Press, vol. 14(2), pages 219-242, April.
    14. 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.
    15. Hsin-Hua Hsiung, 2012. "Authentic Leadership and Employee Voice Behavior: A Multi-Level Psychological Process," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 107(3), pages 349-361, May.
    16. Hannah, Sean T. & Avolio, Bruce J. & Walumbwa, Fred O., 2011. "Relationships between Authentic Leadership, Moral Courage, and Ethical and Pro-Social Behaviors," Business Ethics Quarterly, Cambridge University Press, vol. 21(4), pages 555-578, October.
    17. Fred Luthans & Bruce J. Avolio & Fred O. Walumbwa & Weixing Li, 2005. "The Psychological Capital of Chinese Workers: Exploring the Relationship with Performance," Management and Organization Review, International Association of Chinese Management Research, vol. 1(2), pages 249-271, July.
    18. Heungsik Park & John Blenkinsopp & Myeongsil Park, 2014. "The Influence of an Observer’s Value Orientation and Personality Type on Attitudes Toward Whistleblowing," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 120(1), pages 121-129, March.
    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. Mubasher Javed & Amna Niazi & Yasuo Hoshino & Hamid Hassan & Mujahid Hussain, 2021. "Making Leaders’ and Followers’ Relationship Sustainable: The Impact of Leaders’ Behavioral Integrity on Employees’ Voice in the Banking Sector of Pakistan," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(21), pages 1-14, October.
    2. 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.
    3. 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.
    4. Jing Yang & Chuangang Shen & Cuiling Jiang & Peixu He, 2023. "Abusive Supervision and Employee Knowledge Sharing: The Roles of Psychological Safety and Perceived Motivational Climate," SAGE Open, , vol. 13(1), pages 21582440231, February.
    5. Peipei Pan & Chris Patel, 2024. "Do Internal Auditors Make Consistent Ethical Judgments in English and Chinese in Reporting Wrongdoing?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 194(2), pages 433-453, October.
    6. Maruša Premru & Matej Černe & Robert Buch, 2023. "Where You Lead, I Will Follow: Leader–Member Exchange,Motivation to Lead and Employee Counterproductive Work Behavior," SAGE Open, , vol. 13(4), pages 21582440231, December.
    7. Jin Cheng & Haiqing Bai & Xijuan Yang, 2019. "Ethical Leadership and Internal Whistleblowing: A Mediated Moderation Model," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 155(1), pages 115-130, March.
    8. K. Bharanitharan & Zhen Xiong Chen & Somayeh Bahmannia & Kevin B. Lowe, 2019. "Is Leader Humility a Friend or Foe, or Both? An Attachment Theory Lens on Leader Humility and Its Contradictory Outcomes," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 160(3), pages 729-743, December.
    9. Salar Mesdaghinia & Debra L. Shapiro & Robert Eisenberger, 2022. "Prohibitive Voice as a Moral Act: The Role of Moral Identity, Leaders, and Workgroups," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 180(1), pages 297-311, September.
    10. Trevor M. Spoelma & Nitya Chawla & Aleksander P. J. Ellis, 2021. "If You Can’t Join ‘Em, Report ‘Em: A Model of Ostracism and Whistleblowing in Teams," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 173(2), pages 345-363, October.
    11. Öznur Gökkaya & Hilal Gökkaya & Nuh Zafer Cantürk & Arif Özkan, 2023. "Changing Perception of Nurses during COVID-19: A Comparative Study on Leadership Behaviors, Meaning of Job and Meaningful Work," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(7), pages 1-14, March.
    12. Quinteros, María José & Villena, Marcelo J. & Villena, Mauricio G., 2019. "Whistleblowing Behavior in Organizations," MPRA Paper 99215, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 24 Nov 2019.
    13. Valentine, Sean & Godkin, Lynn, 2019. "Moral intensity, ethical decision making, and whistleblowing intention," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 277-288.
    14. Adnan Celik & Tahir Akgemci & Turgut Emre Akyazi, 2016. "A Comparison between the Styles of Transformational Leaders and Authentic Leaders in Crisis Management," International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, Human Resource Management Academic Research Society, International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, vol. 6(2), pages 183-196, February.
    15. Arménio Rego & Ana I. Melo & Dustin J. Bluhm & Miguel Pina Cunha & Dálcio Reis Júnior, 2021. "Leader-Expressed Humility Predicting Team Psychological Safety: A Personality Dynamics Lens," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 174(3), pages 669-686, December.
    16. Clarissa Kirschbichler, 2022. "Ethical Leadership And Its Impact On Whistleblowing," Economy & Business Journal, International Scientific Publications, Bulgaria, vol. 16(1), pages 262-272.

    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. 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. 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.
    4. 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.
    5. Jin Cheng & Haiqing Bai & Xijuan Yang, 2019. "Ethical Leadership and Internal Whistleblowing: A Mediated Moderation Model," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 155(1), pages 115-130, March.
    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. 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.
    8. Nadia Smaili & Paulina Arroyo, 2019. "Categorization of Whistleblowers Using the Whistleblowing Triangle," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 157(1), pages 95-117, June.
    9. 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.
    10. 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.
    11. 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.
    12. 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.
    13. Clark, Daniel R., 2023. "Embracing whistleblowing for enhanced firm self-regulation," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 66(6), pages 817-833.
    14. Heungsik Park & John Blenkinsopp & Myeongsil Park, 2014. "The Influence of an Observer’s Value Orientation and Personality Type on Attitudes Toward Whistleblowing," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 120(1), pages 121-129, March.
    15. Valentine, Sean & Godkin, Lynn, 2019. "Moral intensity, ethical decision making, and whistleblowing intention," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 277-288.
    16. 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.
    17. Derek Dalton & Robin Radtke, 2013. "The Joint Effects of Machiavellianism and Ethical Environment on Whistle-Blowing," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 117(1), pages 153-172, September.
    18. Jing Zhou & Shibin Sheng & Chuang Zhang, 2022. "Deterring Unethical Behaviors in Marketing Channels: The Role of Distributor Whistleblowing," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 181(1), pages 97-115, November.
    19. 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.
    20. Mechtenberg, Lydia & Muehlheusser, Gerd & Roider, Andreas, 2020. "Whistleblower protection: Theory and experimental evidence," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 126(C).

    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:131:y:2015:i:1:p:107-119. 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.