IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jadmsc/v13y2023i9p199-d1236609.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Exploring Attitudes towards Whistleblowing in Relation to Sustainable Municipalities

Author

Listed:
  • Anastasia Cheliatsidou

    (Department of Organization & Business Administation, University of Westen Macedonia, 501 00 Kozani, Greece)

  • Nikolaos Sariannidis

    (Department of Accounting and Finance, University of Western Macedonia, 501 00 Kozani, Greece)

  • Alexandros Garefalakis

    (Department of Business Administration and Tourism, Hellenic Mediterranean University, 714 10 Iraklio, Greece)

  • Ioannis Passas

    (Department of Business Administration and Tourism, Hellenic Mediterranean University, 714 10 Iraklio, Greece
    Department of Accounting and Finance, Neapolis University Pafos, Paphos 8042, Cyprus)

  • Konstantinos Spinthiropoulos

    (Management Science and Technology Department, University of Western Macedonia, 501 00 Kozani, Greece)

Abstract

There is a consensus in the literature that whistleblowing can operate as an instrument for deterring wrongdoing and promoting transparency in organizations. As such, whistleblowing connects with sustainability, and in particular with the UN sustainable development goals (SDG 16, reducing corruption) for transparency and accountability in public sector entities. The purpose of this study is to explore the attitudes of public servants in Greek municipalities before and after the introduction of the “EU Directive on Whistleblowing”. In particular, we investigate how the political, legal, organizational, and cultural environment within which Greek municipalities operate shapes negative employee attitudes toward whistleblowing. Primary data was collected through in-depth interviews with municipal employees from 2020 to 2023 before and after the incorporation of the “EU Directive on Whistleblowing” into the Greek legal system. Our findings indicate that municipal employees are skeptical and have negative attitudes toward whistleblowing, even if they have witnessed wrongdoing, mainly due to: perceived low protection by the law; limited trust in authorities; absence of an ethical climate; inadequate whistleblowing education; fear of retaliation and social isolation; and concerns that reported crimes will remain unpunished. Important information is generated through this study that can inform practice in relation to political and sociocultural dynamics, and particularly key determinants that negatively influence and undermine the efficiency of the whistleblowing process in certain cultural and organizational contexts. The implications of our findings for regulators, researchers and government authorities are also presented. This study supports the position that whistleblowing is closely related to sustainability as a transparency-promoting mechanism, and should be integrated into strategies in the fight against misconduct, fraud and corruption in public sector entities.

Suggested Citation

  • Anastasia Cheliatsidou & Nikolaos Sariannidis & Alexandros Garefalakis & Ioannis Passas & Konstantinos Spinthiropoulos, 2023. "Exploring Attitudes towards Whistleblowing in Relation to Sustainable Municipalities," Administrative Sciences, MDPI, vol. 13(9), pages 1-16, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jadmsc:v:13:y:2023:i:9:p:199-:d:1236609
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3387/13/9/199/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3387/13/9/199/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jha, Chandan Kumar & Sarangi, Sudipta, 2017. "Does social media reduce corruption?," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 60-71.
    2. Kate Kenny & Marianna Fotaki & Stacey Scriver, 2019. "Mental Heath as a Weapon: Whistleblower Retaliation and Normative Violence," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 160(3), pages 801-815, December.
    3. 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.
    4. Xintong Cheng & Khondkar E. Karim & Karen Jingrong Lin, 2015. "A cross-cultural comparison of whistleblowing perceptions," International Journal of Management and Decision Making, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 14(1), pages 15-31.
    5. Soma Pillay & P. S. Reddy & Damian Morgan, 2017. "Institutional isomorphism and whistle-blowing intentions in public sector institutions," Public Management Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 19(4), pages 423-442, April.
    6. Linn Van Dyne & Soon Ang & Isabel C. Botero, 2003. "Conceptualizing Employee Silence and Employee Voice as Multidimensional Constructs," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(6), pages 1359-1392, September.
    7. Firas Murrar, 2021. "Fraud schemes during COVID-19: a comparison from FATF countries," Journal of Financial Crime, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 29(2), pages 533-540, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Jane Hendy & Danielle A. Tucker, 2021. "Public Sector Organizational Failure: A Study of Collective Denial in the UK National Health Service," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 172(4), pages 691-706, September.
    2. James R. Detert & Linda K. Treviño, 2010. "Speaking Up to Higher-Ups: How Supervisors and Skip-Level Leaders Influence Employee Voice," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 21(1), pages 249-270, February.
    3. Florian M. Artinger & Sabrina Artinger & Gerd Gigerenzer, 2019. "C. Y. A.: frequency and causes of defensive decisions in public administration," Business Research, Springer;German Academic Association for Business Research, vol. 12(1), pages 9-25, April.
    4. Li, Chang-Jun & Li, Fuli & Chen, Tingting & Michael Crant, J., 2022. "Proactive personality and promotability: Mediating roles of promotive and prohibitive voice and moderating roles of organizational politics and leader-member exchange," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 145(C), pages 253-267.
    5. Tilahun Kidane Diko & Shabnam Saxena, 2023. "Antecedents and outcome of employee engagement: Empirical study of Ethiopian public higher education institutions," SN Business & Economics, Springer, vol. 3(8), pages 1-30, August.
    6. Xue Tong Dong & Yang Woon Chung & Jeong Kwon Yun, 2023. "The Mediating Effects of Anxiety and Happiness and the Moderating Effect of Social Network Services for Employee Silence and Psychological Withdrawal Behavior," SAGE Open, , vol. 13(4), pages 21582440231, November.
    7. Lahiri, Bidisha & Ali, Haider, 2022. "Inspections, informal payments and tax payments by firms," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 46(PA).
    8. David Marsden, 2010. "Individual Voice in Employment Relationships: A Comparison Under Different Collective Voice Regimes," CEP Discussion Papers dp1006, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    9. Asongu, Simplice A. & Uduji, Joseph I. & Okolo-Obasi, Elda N., 2019. "Homicide and social media: Global empirical evidence," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 59(C).
    10. Xiaochuan Song, 2022. "Investigating Employees’ Responses to Abusive Supervision," Merits, MDPI, vol. 2(4), pages 1-20, November.
    11. Graziano Abrate & Federico Boffa & Fabrizio Erbetta & Davide Vannoni, 2018. "Voters’ Information, Corruption, and the Efficiency of Local Public Services," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(12), pages 1-22, December.
    12. Jun Huang & Gengxuan Guo & Dingping Tang & Tianyuan Liu & Liang Tan, 2019. "An Eye for an Eye? Third Parties’ Silence Reactions to Peer Abusive Supervision: The Mediating Role of Workplace Anxiety, and the Moderating Role of Core Self-Evaluation," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(24), pages 1-18, December.
    13. Alex Adegboye & Simplice A. Asongu & Vanessa S. Tchamyou & Tolulope T. Osinubi & Ibukunoluwa Adeyanju, 2021. "Educational quality, social media and public accountability: a global perspective," Working Papers 21/086, European Xtramile Centre of African Studies (EXCAS).
    14. Xiaoshuang Lin & Zhen Xiong Chen & Herman H. M. Tse & Wu Wei & Chao Ma, 2019. "Why and When Employees Like to Speak up More Under Humble Leaders? The Roles of Personal Sense of Power and Power Distance," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 158(4), pages 937-950, September.
    15. Gorgijevski, Alexander & Holmström Lind, Christine & Lagerström, Katarina, 2019. "Does proactivity matter? the importance of initiative selling tactics for headquarters acceptance of subsidiary initiatives," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 25(4).
    16. Arzu Kader Harmanci Seren & İbrahim Topcu & Feride Eskin Bacaksiz & Nihal Unaldi Baydin & Emine Tokgoz Ekici & Aytolan Yildirim, 2018. "Organisational silence among nurses and physicians in public hospitals," Journal of Clinical Nursing, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 27(7-8), pages 1440-1451, April.
    17. Ki-Seoung Lee & Yoon-Seo Kim & Hyoung-Chul Shin, 2023. "Effect of Hotel Employees’ Organizational Politics Perception on Organizational Silence, Organizational Cynicism, and Innovation Resistance," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(5), pages 1-12, March.
    18. David Marsden, 2013. "Individual Voice in Employment Relationships: A Comparison under Different Forms of Workplace Representation," Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 52, pages 221-258, January.
    19. Chin-Yi Shu & Nguyen Thi Nhu Quynh, 2015. "Guan-Xi, Loyalty, Contribution And ‘Speak-Up Behavior: The Role of Leader-Member Exchange (LMX) as Mediator and Political Skill as Moderator," Eurasian Journal of Business and Management, Eurasian Publications, vol. 3(2), pages 54-73.
    20. Felix, Robert, 2016. "Examining the spread of high quality reporting through the corporate network," Advances in accounting, Elsevier, vol. 32(C), pages 31-41.

    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:gam:jadmsc:v:13:y:2023:i:9:p:199-:d:1236609. 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: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.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.