Top

Review of Managerial Science

Published in:

21-09-2016 | Original Paper

The relationship between organizational identification and internal whistle-blowing: the joint moderating effects of perceived ethical climate and proactive personality

Authors: Yan Liu, Shuming Zhao, Rui Li, Lulu Zhou, Feng Tian

Published in: Review of Managerial Science | Issue 1/2018

Activate our intelligent search to find suitable subject content or patents.

search-config

AI-assisted search

Off

Abstract

Based on the theory of planned behavior, this paper explores the relationship between an employee’s identification with the employing organization (organizational identification) and the employee’s intention to whistle-blow via organizational internal channels (internal whistle-blowing intention), incorporating a joint moderator that combines perceived ethical climate and proactive personality. After analyzing data from 726 employees in China, the results show that organizational identification is positively associated with internal whistle-blowing intention and that the relationship is jointly moderated by perceived ethical climate and proactive personality, i.e. organizational identification more positively predicts internal whistle-blowing intention in individuals who have a high proactive personality and perceive a strong ethical climate. The results are discussed in terms of the implications for theory and practice.

previous article Determinants of firm value in Latin America: an analysis of firm attributes and institutional factors

next article Towards a better understanding of performance measurements: the case of research-based spin-offs

Dont have a licence yet? Then find out more about our products and how to get one now:

Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik"

Online-Abonnement

Mit Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik" erhalten Sie Zugriff auf:

über 102.000 Bücher
über 537 Zeitschriften

aus folgenden Fachgebieten:

Automobil + Motoren
Bauwesen + Immobilien
Business IT + Informatik
Elektrotechnik + Elektronik
Energie + Nachhaltigkeit
Finance + Banking
Management + Führung
Marketing + Vertrieb
Maschinenbau + Werkstoffe
Versicherung + Risiko

Jetzt Wissensvorsprung sichern!

inform now

Springer Professional "Wirtschaft"

Online-Abonnement

Mit Springer Professional "Wirtschaft" erhalten Sie Zugriff auf:

über 67.000 Bücher
über 340 Zeitschriften

aus folgenden Fachgebieten:

Bauwesen + Immobilien
Business IT + Informatik
Finance + Banking
Management + Führung
Marketing + Vertrieb
Versicherung + Risiko

Jetzt Wissensvorsprung sichern!

inform now

Available only for authorised users

Adler PA, Adler P (1988) Intense loyalty in organizations: a case study of college athletics. Adm Sci Q 33(3):401–417CrossRef

Aiken LS, West SG, Reno RR (1991) Multiple Regression: Testing and Interpreting Interactions. Sage, Newbury Park, CA

Ajzen I (1991) The theory of planned behaviour. Org Behav Hum Decis Process 50(2):179–211CrossRef

Arnaud A, Schminke M (2012) The ethical climate and context of organizations: a comprehensive model. Organ Sci 23(6):1767–1780CrossRef

Ashforth BE, Mael F (1989) Social identity theory and the organization. Acad Manag Rev 14(1):20–39CrossRef

Ashforth BE, Harrison SH, Corley KG (2008) Identification in organizations: an examination of four fundamental questions. J Manag 34(3):325–374

Bartels KK, Harrick E, Martell K, Strickland D (1998) The relationship between ethical climate and ethical problems within human resource management. J Bus Ethics 17(7):799–804CrossRef

Bateman TS, Crant JM (1993) The proactive component of organizational behaviour: a measure and correlates. J Organ Behav 14(2):103–118CrossRef

Berry B (2004) Organizational culture: a framework and strategies for facilitating employee whistle blowing. Empl Responsib Rights J 16(1):1–11CrossRef

Bhal KT, Dadhich A (2011) Impact of ethical leadership and leader–member exchange on whistle blowing: the moderating impact of the moral intensity of the issue. J Bus Ethics 103(3):485–496CrossRef

Bjǿrkelo B, Einarsen S, Matthiesen SB (2010) Predicting proactive behavior at work: exploring the role of personality as an antecedent of whistle blowing behavior. J Occup Organ Psychol 83(2):371–394CrossRef

Brewer GA, Selden SC (1998) Whistle blowers in the federal civil service: new evidence of the public service ethic. J Publ Adm Res Theor 8(3):413–439CrossRef

Campbell DJ (2000) The proactive employee: managing workplace initiative. Acad Manag Exec 14(3):52–66

Chen CC, Zhang AY, Wang H (2014) Enhancing the effects of power sharing on psychological empowerment: the roles of management control and power distance orientation. Manag Organ Rev 10(1):135–156CrossRef

Dozier JB, Miceli MP (1985) Potential predictors of whistle-blowing: a prosocial behavior perspective. Acad Manag Rev 10(4):823–836CrossRef

Farh JL, Hackett RD, Liang J (2007) Individual-level cultural values as moderators of perceived organizational support-employee outcome relationships in China: comparing the effects of power distance and traditionality. Acad Manag J 50(3):715–729CrossRef

Fuller B, Marler LE (2009) Change driven by nature: a meta-analytic review of the proactive personality literature. J Vocat Behav 75(3):329–345CrossRef

Gundlach MJ, Douglas SC, Martinko MJ (2003) The decision to blow the whistle: a social information processing framework. Acad Manag Rev 28(1):107–123CrossRef

Haslam SA, Ryan MK, Postmes T, Spears R, Jetten J, Webley P (2006) Sticking to our guns: social identity as a basis for the maintenance of commitment to faltering organizational projects. J Organ Behav 27(5):607–628CrossRef

Henik EG (2008) Mad as hell or scared stiff? The effects of value conflict and emotions on potential whistle-blowers, ethic issues in business: reflections from the business academic community. J Bus Ethics 80(1):111–119CrossRef

Jubb PB (1999) Whistleblowing: a restrictive definition and interpretation. J Bus Ethics 21(1):77–95CrossRef

Kang DS, Stewart J, Kim H (2011) The effects of perceived external prestige, ethical organizational climate, and leader–member exchange (LMX) quality on employees’ commitments and their subsequent attitudes. J Pers Rev 40(6):761–784CrossRef

Kaptein M (2011) From inaction to external whistle blowing: the influence of the ethical culture of organizations on employee responses to observed wrongdoing. J Bus Ethics 98(3):513–530CrossRef

Keenan JP (2002) Whistleblowing: a study of managerial differences. Empl Responsib Rights J 14(1):17–32CrossRef

Lee JY, Heilmann SG, Near JP (2004) Blowing the whistle on sexual harassment: test of a model of predictors and outcomes. Hum Relat 57(3):297–322CrossRef

Leung AS (2008) Matching ethical work climate to in-role and extra-role behaviours in a collectivist work setting. J Bus Ethics 79(1–2):43–55CrossRef

Li N, Liang J, Grant JM (2010) The role of proactive personality in job satisfaction and organizational citizenship behaviour: a relational perspective. J Appl Psychol 95(2):395–404CrossRef

Li R, Zhang ZY, Tian XM (2016) Can self-sacrificial leadership promote subordinate taking charge? The mediating role of organizational identification and the moderating role of risk aversion. J Organ Behav 37(5):758–781CrossRef

Lin CP, Tang LL, Chiu YB, Hsiao CY (2005) Testing a joint moderator of ego strength and ethical climate: a study of the process of peer reporting intentions in IT ethics. Asia Pac Manag Rev 10(2):145–153

Liu W, Zhu R, Yang Y (2010) I warn you because I like you: voice behavior, employee identifications, and transformational leadership. Leadersh Q 21(1):189–202CrossRef

Liu Y, Zhao SM, Jiang L, Li R (2015) When does a proactive personality enhance an employee’s whistle-blowing intention? A cross–level investigation of the employees in Chinese companies. Ethics Behav 00(00):1–18

MacNab BR, Worthley R (2008) Self-efficacy as an intrapersonal predictor for internal whistle blowing: a US and Canada examination. J Bus Ethics 79(1–2):407–421CrossRef

Mael F, Ashforth BE (1992) Alumni and their alma maters: a partial test of the reformulated model of organizational identification. J Organ Behav 13(2):103–123CrossRef

Martin KD, Cullen JB (2006) Continuities and extensions of ethical climate theory: a meta-analytic review. J Bus Ethics 69(2):175–194CrossRef

McLain DL, Keenan JP (1999) Risk, information, and the decision about response to wrongdoing in an organization. J Bus Ethics 19(3):255–271CrossRef

Mesmer-Magnus JR, Viswesvaran C (2005) Whistle blowing in organizations: an examination of correlates of whistle blowing intentions, actions, and retaliation. J Bus Ethics 62(2):277–297CrossRef

Miceli MP, Near JP (1984) The Relationships among beliefs, organizational position, and whistle–blowing status: a discriminant analysis. Acad Manag J 27(4):687–705

Miceli MP, Near JP (1991) Who blows the whistle and why? Ind Labour Relat Rev 45(1):113–130CrossRef

Miceli MP, Near JP (1992) Blowing the Whistle: The Organizational and Legal Implications for Companies and Employees. Lexington, New York

Miceli MP, Near JP (2002) What makes whistle-blowers effective? Three field studies. Hum Relat 55(4):455–479CrossRef

Miceli MP, Dozier JB, Near JP (1987) Personal and situational determinants of whistle-blowing. In: Paper presented at the meeting of the Academy of Management, New Orleans, LA

Miceli MP, Near JP, Dworkin TM (2008) Whistle-Blowing in Organizations. Routledge, New York

Miceli MP, Near JP, Dworkin TM (2009) A word to the wise: how managers and policy-makers can encourage employees to report wrongdoing. J Bus Ethics 86(3):379–396CrossRef

Miceli MP, Near JP, Rehg MT, Van Scotter JR (2012) Predicting employee reactions to perceived organizational wrongdoing: demoralization, justice, proactive personality, and whistle-blowing. Hum Relat 65(8):923–954CrossRef

Near JP, Miceli MP (1985) Organizational dissidence: the case of whistle-blowing. J Bus Ethics 4(1):1–16CrossRef

Near JP, Miceli MP (1996) Whistle-blowing: myth and reality. J Manag 22(3):507–526

Park H, Rehg MT, Lee D (2005) The influence of confucian ethics and collectivism on whistle blowing intentions: a study of South Korean public employees. J Bus Ethics 58(4):387–403CrossRef

Parker SK, Wu CH (2014) Leading for proactivity: How leaders cultivate staff who make things happen. In: Day DV (ed) Oxford Handbook of Leadership and Organizations. Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp 380–399

Parker SK, Bindl UK, Strauss K (2010) Making things happen: a model of proactive motivation. J Manag 36(4):827–856

Podsakoff PM, Mackenzie SB, Lee JY, Podsakoff NP (2003) Common method biases in behavioural research: a critical review of the literature and recommended remedies. J Appl Psychol 88(5):879–903CrossRef

Pratt MG (2000) The good, the bad, and the ambivalent: managing identification among Amway distributors. Adm Sci Q 45(3):456–493CrossRef

Rehg MT, Miceli MP, Near JP, Van Scotter JR (2008) Antecedents and outcomes of retaliation against whistleblower: gender differences and power relationships. Organ Sci 19(2):221–240CrossRef

Riketta M (2005) Organizational identification: a meta-analysis. J Vocat Behav 66(2):358–384CrossRef

Rothwell GR, Baldwin JN (2007) Ethical climate theory, whistle-blowing, and the code of silence in police agencies in the state of Georgia. J Bus Ethics 70(4):341–361CrossRef

Sims RL, Keenan JP (1998) Predictors of external whistleblowing: organizational and intrapersonal variables. J Bus Ethics 17(4):411–421CrossRef

Somers MJ, Casal JC (1994) Organizational commitment and whistle blowing—a test of the reformer and the organization man hypotheses. Group Organ Stud 19(3):270–285CrossRef

Swann WB, Read SJ (1981) Self-verification processes: how we sustain our self-conceptions. J Exp Soc Psychol 17(4):351–372CrossRef

Treviño LK, Weaver GR (2001) Organizational justice and ethics program ‘follow-through’: influences on employees’ harmful and helpful behavior. Bus Ethics Q 11(04):651–671CrossRef

Treviño LK, Weaver GR, Reynolds SJ (2006) Behavioral ethics in organizations: a review. J Manag 32(6):951–990

Tsai MT, Huang CC (2008) The relationship among ethical climate types, facets of job satisfaction, and the three components of organizational commitment: a study of nurses in Taiwan. J Bus Ethics 80(3):565–581CrossRef

Vadera AK, Aguilera RV, Caza BB (2009) Making sense of whistle-blowing’s antecedents: learning from research on identity and ethics programs. Bus Ethics Q 19(4):553–586CrossRef

Van Dyne L, LePine JA (1998) Helping and voice extra-role behaviors: evidence and construct and predictive validity. Acad Manag J 41(1):108–119

Victor B, Cullen JB (1988) The organizational bases of ethical work climate. Adm Sci Q 33(1):101–125CrossRef

Wong CA, Laschinger HK, Cummings GG (2010) Authentic leadership and nurses’ voice behavior and perceptions of care quality. J Nurs Manag 18(8):889–900CrossRef

Zhang XM, Bartol KM (2010) Linking empowering leadership and employee creativity: the influence of psychological empowerment, intrinsic motivation, and creativity process engagement. Acad Manag J 53(1):107–128CrossRef

Zhang J, Chiu R, Wei L (2009) Decision-making process of internal whistle-blowing behavior in China: empirical evidence and implications. J Bus Ethics 88(1):25–41CrossRef

Title: The relationship between organizational identification and internal whistle-blowing: the joint moderating effects of perceived ethical climate and proactive personality
Authors: Yan Liu
Shuming Zhao
Rui Li
Lulu Zhou
Feng Tian
Publication date: 21-09-2016
Publisher: Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Published in: Review of Managerial Science / Issue 1/2018
Print ISSN: 1863-6683
Electronic ISSN: 1863-6691
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11846-016-0214-z

Springer Professional

Abstract

Please log in to get access to your license.

Dont have a licence yet? Then find out more about our products and how to get one now:

Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik"

Springer Professional "Wirtschaft"

Other articles of this Issue 1/2018

Firm level R&D intensity: evidence from Indian drugs and pharmaceutical industry

Entrepreneurial orientation and firm value: Does managerial discretion play a role?

CSR as entrenchment strategy and capital structure: corporate governance and investor protection as complementary and substitutive factors

The impact of top management teams on firm innovativeness: a configurational analysis of demographic characteristics, leadership style and team power distribution

Coworking-spaces: how a phenomenon of the sharing economy builds a novel trend for the workplace and for entrepreneurship

Layoff announcements and intra-day market reactions