Blowing the Whistle on Unethical Conduct: It Takes a Village

Employees who want to report wrongdoing must overcome two fears: the fear of retaliation and the fear of futility (the fear of risking the enmity of boss and co-workers for nothing, because nothing is done). New research on whistleblowers confirms that the boss sets the initial ethical tone for the organization or unit, but also demonstrates that co-workers play an important role in either supporting or discouraging whistleblowing. The research shows that the interaction of the two factors — boss attitude and co-workers attitude — impacts an employee’s fear of retaliation. If either the boss or coworkers are unethical, fear of retaliation will prevent an employee from reporting wrongdoing. For that reason, “it takes a village” — in other words, it takes the support of all those around them — to encourage employees to do the right thing.