Table Of ContentCorporate Governance
and Whistleblowing
Whistleblowing is often about disclosing wrongdoings by members of organisa-
tions to persons or organisations that may be able to effect action. Media would
at times publish stories of whistleblowers who engage in ‘heroic’ acts of exposing
wrongdoings at work, but the whistleblowers often face significant negative con-
sequences of their whistleblowing efforts.
This book examines effects of national and organisational cultures on the
whistleblowing decisions of employees. The book provides empirical evidence
of association between organisational culture and whistleblowing, and there ap-
pears to be a lower likelihood of whistleblowing in organisations that focus more
on the cultural dimensions of respect for people, innovation, and stability. It also
illustrates how remaining silent or blowing the whistle in response to observed
wrongdoings affects employees’ key work- related attitudes.
This book would interest those who wish to gain better understanding of the
relationship between culture and whistleblowing in organisations.
Moeen Umar Cheema researches on management accounting, business ethics,
and related subjects.
Rahat Munir is Professor and Head of Department of Accounting and Corporate
Governance, Macquarie University.
Sophia Su is Associate Professor at the Department of Accounting and Corporate
Governance, Macquarie University.
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Corporate Governance and Effectiveness
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Moeen Umar Cheema, Rahat Munir and Sophia Su
For more information about this series, please visit www.routledge.com/
Routledge- Studies- in- Corporate- Governance/ book- series/ RSCG
Corporate Governance
and Whistleblowing
Corporate Culture and Employee
Behaviour
Moeen Umar Cheema, Rahat Munir,
and Sophia Su
First published 2021
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2021 Moeen Umar Cheema, Rahat Munir and Sophia Su
The right of Moeen Umar Cheema, Rahat Munir and Sophia Su to be identified as authors
of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised
in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or
hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information
storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks,
and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing- in- Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data
Names: Cheema, Moeen, author. | Munir, Rahat, author. | Su, Sophia, author.
Title: Corporate governance and whistleblowing : corporate culture and
employee behaviour / Moeen Umar Cheema, Rahat Munir and Sophia Su.
Description: Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY : Routledge, 2021. |
Series: Routledge studies in corporate governance |
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2020051411 (print) | LCCN 2020051412 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Corporate governance–Cross-cultural studies. |
Whistle blowing–Cross-cultural studies. | Organizational behavior–
Cross-cultural studies. | Corporate culture–Cross-cultural studies.
Classification: LCC HD2741 .C467 2021 (print) |
LCC HD2741 (ebook) | DDC 306.3/6–dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020051411
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020051412
ISBN: 978-0-367–76451-7 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-367-76453-1 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-16697-9 (ebk)
Typeset in Galliard
by Newgen Publishing UK
Contents
List of illustrations vi
1 Introduction to whistleblowing 1
2 The antecedents of whistleblowing: a cross- cultural
comparison of Australia and Pakistan 20
3 Does organisational culture affect whistleblowing
decisions? 57
4 Whistleblowing and employees’ work-r elated attitudes 85
5 Conclusion 125
Appendix A 151
Appendix B 155
Appendix C 159
Index 167
Illustrations
Figures
4.1 Estimated marginal means of job-r elated stress plotted against
nationality 107
4.2 Estimated marginal means of job satisfaction plotted against
nationality 110
Tables
2.1 Demographic characteristics of the sample 34
2.2 Distribution of respondents into observers and non- observers 35
2.3 Distribution of observers into whistleblowers and inactive
observers 36
2.4 Distribution of whistleblowers on the basis of power
of wrongdoer 37
2.5 Distribution of whistleblowers on the basis of power of
wrongdoer (official whistleblowers only) 38
2.6 Distribution of whistleblowers on the basis of power of
wrongdoer (unofficial whistleblowers only) 38
2.7 Distribution of inactive observers not blowing the whistle due
to restraint 39
3.1 Factor analysis of the items used to measure organisational
culture variable 67
3.2 Reliability tests for dimensions of organisational culture 68
3.3 Summary statistics for the six dimensions of organisational culture 68
3.4 Distribution of respondents into observers and non- observers 69
3.5 Distribution of observers into whistleblowers and inactive
observers 69
3.6 Demographic profile of the respondents 70
3.7 Results of the binary regression analysis of the association
between organisational culture and whistleblowing 71
3.8 Results of the binary regression analysis of the association
between organisational culture and observation of wrongdoings 72
newgenprepdf
List of illustrations vii
4.1 Breakdown of respondents into non-o bservers, inactive
observers, and whistleblowers 95
4.2 Summary statistics for turnover intentions, organisational
commitment, job- related stress, and job satisfaction 97
4.3 Factor analysis of the items used to measure organisational
culture variable 98
4.4 Demographic profile of the respondents 99
4.5 Results of one-way analysis of variance 100
4.6 GLM results of the impact of remaining as an inactive observer
or becoming a whistleblower on turnover intentions 101
4.7 Estimated marginal means of turnover intentions 102
4.8 GLM results of the impact of remaining as an inactive observer
or becoming a whistleblower on organisational commitment 103
4.9 Estimated marginal means of organisational commitment 104
4.10 GLM results of the impact of remaining as an inactive observer
or becoming a whistleblower on job-r elated stress 105
4.11 Estimated marginal means showing the interaction effect of
nationality on job- related stress 107
4.12 GLM results of the impact of remaining as an inactive observer
or becoming a whistleblower on job satisfaction 109
4.13 Estimated marginal means showing the interaction effect of
nationality on job satisfaction 110
1 I ntroduction to whistleblowing
1.1 Background
John Doe: Hello, this is John Doe. Interested in data?
Bastian Obermayer: We are very (much) interested.
John Doe There are a couple of conditions. My life is in danger. We will only
chat over encrypted files. No meetings, ever. The choice of stories is obvi-
ously up to you.
Bastian Obermayer: Why are you doing this?
John Doe: I want to make these crimes public.
Bastian Obermayer: How much data are we talking about?
John Doe: More than anything you have ever seen (Obermaier et al. 2016).
Above is the first conversation that occurred between an anonymous person
(giving himself the pseudonym of John Doe) and Bastian Obermayer, who was a
reporter at the Munich-b ased German daily, Suddeutsche Zeitung. According to
Mr. Obermayer, John Doe never asked for any compensation. He offered data
relating to a Panama-b ased legal firm, Mossack Fonseca, which he believed was
doing ‘real harm to the world’ and he wanted to stop it by making the informa-
tion public (Farhi 2016; Obermaier et al. 2016).
The 2.6 terabytes of data, including approximately 11.5 million documents,
led to the publication of the ‘Panama Papers’ in April 2016, which revealed how
the rich and powerful, including government heads, top politicians, celebrities,
businesspeople, fraudsters, and drug smugglers, used financial intermediaries to
manage and conceal their assets in the form of more than 214,000 offshore com-
panies across 21 jurisdictions (Wilson- Chapman et al. 2019). The publication
triggered a turmoil in the political and financial world. In the aftermath, the
Prime Minister of Iceland resigned, the Prime Minister of the UK faced tough
questions, and the Prime Minister of Pakistan was disqualified by the country’s
apex court. The Panama Papers also triggered investigations in more than 82
countries, including Australia (Roque 2016). Three years following the publica-
tion of the Panama Papers, USD 1.2 billion (approximately AUD 1.71 billion)
has been recouped. There have been several regulatory changes, including the
enactment and strengthening of laws to curtail money laundering and to improve
corporate transparency (Wilson- Chapman et al. 2019).
