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Journal of Business Ethics

Erschienen in:

01.04.2015

The Morality of Whistleblowing: A Commentary on Richard T. De George

verfasst von: W. Michael Hoffman, Mark S. Schwartz

Erschienen in: Journal of Business Ethics | Ausgabe 4/2015

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Among the many important contributions to the business ethics field provided by Richard T. De George is his discussion of the morality of whistleblowing. De George (2010), in his classic textbook Business Ethics, ¹ provides a succinct analysis of the conditions under which external whistleblowing by employees (e.g., to the media, government regulators, or public interest groups) can be considered either morally permissible or morally obligatory. De George’s whistleblowing criteria have been referred to as: “important,” “famous,” having gained “widespread acceptance” (Lindblom 2007, pp. 414–415), representing the “standard theory” on whistleblowing (Davis 1996, p. 154), as well as “frequently cited in articles by other scholars” (Hoffman and McNulty 2010, p. 47). …

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Although we refer to De George’s 7th edition of Business Ethics (2010), his criteria have not changed significantly from his 1st edition in 1982.

In terms of financial motives, the issue is, however, potentially more relevant today in light of the U.S. Dodd-Frank Act which provides for significant monetary payouts to whistleblowers who report directly to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) even if they don’t report internally within their own firms (see Gilley and Hoffman 2011). The primary concern is that providing monetary incentives may motivate and thereby prevent many employees from reporting misconduct internally before going to the SEC.

This could include illegal practices such as tax evasion, anti-competitive practices, fraud, environmental pollution, or deceptive advertising.

See the National Whistleblowers Center at: http://www.whistleblowers.org/. Accessed on 23 May 2014.

See: http://sec.gov/rules/final/2011/34-64545.pdf. Accessed on 23 May 2014.

We place this as the second criterion as it appears to more closely follow the temporal order of the whistleblowing process: first harm must exist, leading to reasonable belief, then internal reporting.

Association of Certified Fraud Examiners. (2012). Report to the Nations on Occupational Fraud and Abuse: 2012 Global Fraud Study (Austin Texas). Available at: http://www.acfe.com/uploadedFiles/ACFE_Website/Content/rttn/2012-report-to-nations.pdf. Accessed on 23 May 2014.

Bowie, N. E. (1982). Business ethics. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, Inc.

Davis, M. (1996). Some paradoxes of whistleblowing. Business & Professional Ethics Journal, 15(1). In Beauchamp, T. L., Bowie, N. E., & D. G. Arnold. (2009). Ethical theory and business (8th ed., pp. 147–155). Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Education.

De George, R. T. (2010). Business ethics (7th ed., pp. 298–318). New York: Prentice Hall.

Duska, R. (2009). Whistle-blowing and employee loyalty. In T. L. Beauchamp, N. E. Bowie, & D. G. Arnold (Eds.), Ethical theory and business (8th ed., pp. 155–159). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education.

Ethics Resource Center. (2012). Inside the mind of a whistleblower. Washington DC. Available at: http://www.ethics.org/resource/inside-mind-whistleblower. Accessed on 23 May 2014.

Ethics Resource Center. (2014). National business ethics survey. Washington, DC. Available at: http://www.ethics.org/nbes/. Accessed on 23 May 2014.

Gilley, M., & Hoffman, W. M. (2011). Will rewards for whistleblowers encourage ethical behavior? The CQ Researcher, 21, 409–432.

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Hoffman, W. M., & McNulty, R. E. (2010). A business ethics theory of whistleblowing: Responding to the $1 trillion question. In M. Arszulowicz (Ed.), Whistleblowing: In defense of proper action (pp. 45–59). New York: Transaction Publishers.

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Schwartz, M. S. (2013). Developing and sustaining an ethical corporate culture: The core elements. Business Horizons, 56, 39–50. CrossRef

Sinzdak, G. (2008). An alaysis of current whistleblower laws: Defending a more flexible approach to reporting requirements. California Law Review, 96(6), 1633–1668.

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Titel: The Morality of Whistleblowing: A Commentary on Richard T. De George
verfasst von: W. Michael Hoffman
Mark S. Schwartz
Publikationsdatum: 01.04.2015
Verlag: Springer Netherlands
Erschienen in: Journal of Business Ethics / Ausgabe 4/2015
Print ISSN: 0167-4544
Elektronische ISSN: 1573-0697
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-014-2186-8

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