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Breaking Out of the Cocoon: Whistleblowing Opportunities Under Conditions of Normalized Wrongdoing

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  • Thomas Olesen

    (Aarhus University)

Abstract

Research in sociology and organization studies has consistently documented the tendency for organizations to develop wrongdoing practices that are at odds with the legal and moral frameworks of society. Often, this wrongdoing acquires a degree of normalization where it is endorsed, encouraged, and accepted throughout the organization. Such normalized wrongdoing can have severe negative effects on the whistleblowing opportunities of employees. While these effects are intuitively easy to understand, we still lack an understanding of the significant variation that exists across situations of normalized wrongdoing and how that variation may affect potential whistleblowers. To advance such an agenda, the paper analyzes 14 whistleblower autobiographies. Building on work on normalized wrongdoing within corruption, fraud, and management studies and Niklas Luhmann’s theories on organization, the analysis finds that normalized wrongdoing in the autobiographies appears in different intensities that depend on the role of management, the benefits organizations obtain from wrongdoing, and the extent to which wrongdoing norms are internalized by employees. The paper builds on these distinctions to suggest a continuum of normalized wrongdoing from ‘weak’ to ‘strong.’ Understanding this variation offers a new set of tools to assess the organizational realities that concerned employees must navigate in when they attempt to resist and address situations of normalized wrongdoing.

Suggested Citation

  • Thomas Olesen, 2024. "Breaking Out of the Cocoon: Whistleblowing Opportunities Under Conditions of Normalized Wrongdoing," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 191(1), pages 93-105, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:191:y:2024:i:1:d:10.1007_s10551-023-05378-0
    DOI: 10.1007/s10551-023-05378-0
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Øyvind Kvalnes & Salvör Nordal, 2019. "Normalization of Questionable Behavior: An Ethical Root of the Financial Crisis in Iceland," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 159(3), pages 761-775, October.
    2. Dennis Balch & Robert Armstrong, 2010. "Ethical Marginality: The Icarus Syndrome and Banality of Wrongdoing," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 92(2), pages 291-303, March.
    3. 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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