IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/jbuset/v182y2023i2d10.1007_s10551-021-05023-8.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Fairly and Justly? Are Employment Tribunals Able to Even Out Whistleblowing Power Imbalances?

Author

Listed:
  • Laura William

    (University of Greenwich)

  • Wim Vandekerckhove

    (University of Greenwich)

Abstract

In Britain, Employment Tribunals (ET) adjudicate on whistleblowing legislation. They do so with the overriding aim to adjudicate cases fairly and justly, by hearing parties on an equal footing. This paper presents research questioning this rule-of-law assumption vis-a-vis power imbalances that relate to whistleblowing. Using multinomial logistic regression analysis, we analyse all cases at ET in England and Wales between 2015 and 2018, that included a whistleblowing claim and that went to preliminary hearing or beyond. We find that several variables have an effect on the relative representational strength (RRS) at ET, but not on the outcome of the whistleblowing claim. However, whistleblowing claims brought in combination of discrimination claims (41%) have lower RRS and less favourable outcomes for the whistleblowing claim.

Suggested Citation

  • Laura William & Wim Vandekerckhove, 2023. "Fairly and Justly? Are Employment Tribunals Able to Even Out Whistleblowing Power Imbalances?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 182(2), pages 365-376, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:182:y:2023:i:2:d:10.1007_s10551-021-05023-8
    DOI: 10.1007/s10551-021-05023-8
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10551-021-05023-8
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10551-021-05023-8?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. Gao, Lei & Brink, Alisa G., 2017. "Whistleblowing studies in accounting research: A review of experimental studies on the determinants of whistleblowing," Journal of Accounting Literature, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 1-13.
    2. Kim Loyens & Wim Vandekerckhove, 2018. "Whistleblowing from an International Perspective: A Comparative Analysis of Institutional Arrangements," Administrative Sciences, MDPI, vol. 8(3), pages 1-16, July.
    3. repec:eme:jal000:j.acclit.2017.05.001 is not listed on IDEAS
    4. Peter Urwin & Franz Buscha & Paul L. Latreille, 2014. "Representation in UK Employment Tribunals: Analysis of the 2003 and 2008 Survey of Employment Tribunal Applications (SETA)," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 52(1), pages 158-184, March.
    5. Heungsik Park & Wim Vandekerckhove & Jaeil Lee & Joowon Jeong, 2020. "Laddered Motivations of External Whistleblowers: The Truth About Attributes, Consequences, and Values," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 165(4), pages 565-578, September.
    6. 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.
    7. Linda Dickens, 2014. "The Coalition government's reforms to employment tribunals and statutory employment rights—echoes of the past," Industrial Relations Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 45(3), pages 234-249, May.
    8. Laura William & Birgit Pauksztat & Susan Corby, 2019. "Justice obtained? How disabled claimants fare at Employment Tribunals," Industrial Relations Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 50(4), pages 314-330, July.
    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. Dina El-Bassiouny & Amr Kotb & Hany Elbardan & Noha El-Bassiouny, 2023. "To Blow or Not to Blow the Whistle? An Islamic Framework," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 187(2), pages 385-404, October.
    2. Hanen Khemakhem & Richard Fontaine & Nadia Smaili & Mahbub Zaman, 2023. "Whistleblowing regulations and the role of audit committees: insight from interviews," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 27(1), pages 131-151, March.
    3. Emilie Hennequin, 2023. "Whistleblowing as a Career Crisis: Recovering from Retaliatory Job Loss through a Process of Bifurcation," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 37(2), pages 545-562, April.
    4. Ivana Zilic & Helen LaVan, 2020. "Arbitration of accommodation in US workplaces: employee, stakeholder and human resources characteristics," Industrial Relations Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 51(5), pages 454-473, September.
    5. 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.
    6. Monica Ramos Montesdeoca & Agustín J. Sánchez Medina & Felix Blázquez Santana, 2019. "Research Topics in Accounting Fraud in the 21st Century: A State of the Art," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(6), pages 1-31, March.
    7. Anisa Arismaya & Intiyas Utami, 2019. "Facts, Causes And Corruption Prevention: Evidence In Indonesian Ministries," Journal of Contemporary Accounting, Master in Accounting Program, Faculty of Business & Economics, Universitas Islam Indonesia, Yogyakarta, Indonesia, vol. 1(2), pages 95-106, May.
    8. Wim Vandekerckhove, 2022. "Is It Freedom? The Coming About of the EU Directive on Whistleblower Protection," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 179(1), pages 1-11, August.
    9. Maryam Dilmaghani, 2022. "The link between smoking, drinking and wages: Health, workplace social capital or discrimination?," Industrial Relations Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 53(2), pages 160-183, March.
    10. Shweta Mehrotra & R. K. Mishra & V. Srikanth & Govind Prasad Tiwari & E. V. Mahesh Kumar, 2020. "State of Whistleblowing Research: A Thematic Analysis," FIIB Business Review, , vol. 9(2), pages 133-148, June.
    11. Orestis Papadopoulos & Marti Lopez‐Andreu & Mandi Jamalian, 2021. "Violation and lack of awareness of employment rights in the United Kingdom's hotel industry: Isolation, fragmentation and barriers to labour enforcement," Industrial Relations Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 52(4), pages 315-330, July.
    12. Valentine, Sean & Godkin, Lynn, 2019. "Moral intensity, ethical decision making, and whistleblowing intention," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 277-288.
    13. Nadia Smaili & Wim Vandekerckhove & Paulina Arroyo Pardo, 2023. "Handling Whistleblowing Reports: The Complexity of the Double Agent," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 186(2), pages 279-292, August.
    14. Leah F. Vosko & John Grundy & Eric Tucker & Mark P. Thomas & Andrea M. Noack & Rebecca Casey & Mary Gellatly & Jennifer Mussell, 2017. "The compliance model of employment standards enforcement: an evidence-based assessment of its efficacy in instances of wage theft," Industrial Relations Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 48(3), pages 256-273, May.
    15. 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.
    16. Sebastian Oelrich, 2019. "Making regulation fit by taking irrationality into account: the case of the whistleblower," Business Research, Springer;German Academic Association for Business Research, vol. 12(1), pages 175-207, April.
    17. 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.
    18. Ferhat D. Zengul & Nurettin Oner & James D. Byrd & Arline Savage, 2021. "Revealing Research Themes and Trends in 30 Top‐ranking Accounting Journals: A Text‐mining Approach," Abacus, Accounting Foundation, University of Sydney, vol. 57(3), pages 468-501, September.
    19. Thomas Olesen, 2022. "The Birth of an Action Repertoire: On the Origins of the Concept of Whistleblowing," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 179(1), pages 13-24, August.
    20. 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.

    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:182:y:2023:i:2:d:10.1007_s10551-021-05023-8. 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.