Predicting Whistleblowing Intention: The Role of Work Locus of Control, Fear of Retaliation, and Organizational Commitment

Talia Odri; Marija Volarov; Boris Popov; Jelena  Matanović

doi:10.19090/pp.v18i4.2596

Authors

Talia Odri Department of Psychology, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Novi Sad, Serbia https://orcid.org/0009-0004-9989-3554
Marija Volarov Department of Psychology, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Novi Sad, Serbia https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8451-6113
Boris Popov Department of Psychology, Faculty of Arts, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7124-6863
Jelena Matanović Department of Psychology, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Novi Sad, Serbia https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1349-0593

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.19090/pp.v18i4.2596

Keywords:

whistleblowing, locus of control, fear of retaliation, reporting wrongdoing, irregularities in the workplace

Abstract

Whistleblowing is the process by which employees report observed irregularities within the organization. Irregularities can be reported internally using reporting mechanisms within the organization or externally by contacting appropriate authorities or the media. This study explored the role that internal and external work locus of control, fear of retaliation, and organizational commitment play in reporting irregularities in the workplace among employees in Serbia. The Prosocial Organizational Behavior Model was used as the theoretical foundation. The convenience sample of 220 adults (Mage = 40.77 ± 12.87; 65.9% women) was recruited from the general population. First, we tested whether employees are more likely to report irregularities internally than externally. Then, we tested whether we could predict internal and external whistleblowing intention based on internal and external work locus of control, fear of retaliation, and organizational commitment after controlling for demographic variables. Our analysis revealed that internal whistleblowing intention is more pronounced than external one. After accounting for the demographic variables, we also found that internal work locus of control and organizational commitment positively predict internal whistleblowing intention, while fear of retaliation negatively. Finally, we found that fear of retaliation and internal locus of control predict external whistleblowing intention positively after controlling for demographic variables. One possible implication of this study is that increasing organizational commitment, fostering an internal locus of control, and ensuring employee safety may encourage whistleblowing; however, the direction of influence may be reversed, or the third variable that we did not include in our study may play a role.

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