Whistleblowers: Loyal Corporate Employee or Disloyal Employee?

Abstract

Whistleblowers have received much media attention and scrutiny during the last decade due to high-profile corporate scandals and reports of unlawful activities in government and private sector corporations. There is a changing trend in the perception of whistleblowers from troublemakers to loyal employee. Interviews, based on a FBI whistleblower case, were conducted with eight employees in a Fortune 200 company. Results of qualitative analysis and findings reported in this paper support the perception of whistleblowers as loyal employees who have a strong sense of right and wrong, and are committed to calling attention to wrongdoing. The solution proposed is a call for corporations to adopt effective policies and procedures for employees to disclose any improprieties or misconduct to maintain the integrity of the organization.