Power distance culture and whistleblowing intentions: the moderating effect of gender

• Pages: 217-234
• Published date: 22 February 2020
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/IJOES-10-2019-0163
• Date: 22 February 2020
• Author: Albert Puni,Sam Kris Hilton
• Subject Matter: Economics,Social economics

Power distance culture and

whistleblowing intentions:

the moderating effect of gender

Albert Puni

Department of Business Administration,

University of Professional Studies, Accra, Ghana, and

Sam Kris Hilton

School of Graduate Studies, University of Professional Studies, Accra, Ghana

Abstract

Purpose –The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of power distance culture (PDC) on

whistleblowingintentions (WI) by examining the moderatingeffect of gender on the causal relationships.

Design/methodology/approach –The study used descriptive andcross-sectional survey design. Data

were obtained from 300 employeesof the selected organizations in Ghana and analyzed by using descriptive

statistics,correlational and hierarchical regressiontechniques.

Findings –The results indicate that there is a significant relationship between PDC and WI, and such

relationship is moderated bygender. The study also revealed that high PDC is the prevailing culturein the

organizations surveyed, indicatinglow tendency of reporting corporate wrongdoing. However, the result of

the moderationanalysis indicates being a female worker in a PDC has a strongerinfluence on WI than being a

male. Additionally, whistleblowers are likely to report their coworkers than leaders in high PDC

organizations,but they are rather likely to report their leaders than coworkersin low PDC organizations.

Originality/value –This paper makes a significantcontribution to the existing whistleblowing literature

by establishing how gender moderates the influence of organizational culture on whistleblowing and

recommends how to improve organizational ethos to facilitate whistleblowing in high-power distance

societies.

Keywords Gender, Power distance culture, Whistleblowing intentions

Paper type Research paper

1. Introduction

Wrongdoing among organization members such as corruption, vandalism, absenteeism, sexual

harassment, unethical human resource/financial practices, improper production and waste

management are on the ascendency causing massive organizational crises globally (Liu et al.,

2015). Robinson and Bennett (1995) report that 75 per cent of employees are noted to have

committed one organizational wrongdoing or the other, while Henle et al. (2005) submit that 95

per cent of listed companies have detected some deviant behaviors inside their organizations.

Countries and organizations of Africa cannot be exonerated from this global canker. According

to Price Water House and Copper’s(PwC’s) Global Economic Crime Survey (2016),“reported

economic”crime in African organizations have gone up by 7 per cent over the past 2 years (to

57 per cent against a global average of 36 per cent). Similarly, deviant behaviors among

employees such as vandalism, absenteeism, sexual harassment and damage are also on the rise

on the continent. For example, Chaudhury et al. (2006) found that 27 per cent of primary school

teachers were absent from work during unannounced visits to primary schools in Uganda,

while research agency Columinate Insites Consulting (2018) recently found that 30 per cent of

Power distance

culture

217

Received19 October 2019

Revised7 December 2019

Accepted7 December 2019

InternationalJournal of Ethics and

Systems

Vol.36 No. 2, 2020

pp. 217-234

© Emerald Publishing Limited

2514-9369

DOI 10.1108/IJOES-10-2019-0163

The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:

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women and 18 per cent of men have been victims of unwanted sexual advances in the

workplace in South Africa.

One way to detect and fight organizational wrongdoing is through whistleblowing.

Whistleblowingis:

[...] the disclosure by members of an organization (former or current) of illegal, immoral, or

illegitimate practices under the control of their employers, to persons or organizations that may be

able to effect action (Near and Miceli, 1995, p. 4).

There are several global examples suggesting that organization wrongdoing is usually

exposed by whistleblowers. For instance, the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners

reports that nearly 40 per cent of all fraud cases detected in organizations were through

whistleblowing tip saving organizations significant amount of money. Also, one-third of all

deviant behaviors in the workplace were exposed directly or indirectly by whistleblower

(Sweeney, 2008). In view of this, whistleblowing has become an important mechanism

toward minimizing corporate wrongdoing. Callahan and Dworkin (2000) submit that

encouraging employees to report wrongdoing (blow the whistle) and protecting them, as

employees are usually the first to witness wrongdoing in the workplace and will go a long

way in reducing organization wrongdoing. However, despite the importance of

whistleblowing, there is a downward trend in whistleblowing activities in several African

organizations. For example, in 2007, 16 per cent of organizational wrongdoing was detected

through whistleblowingin South Africa; however, by 2013, the figure dropped to 6 per cent.

Though experts have attributed the drop in whistleblowing activities to implementation

gaps and deficiencies in the use and application of the existing laws which undermine the

safety of whistleblowers, the currentresearchers believe that the culture prevailing in many

African organizationsis largely to be blamed for the poor whistleblowing activities.

Culture plays a crucial role in businessethics and in particular in whistleblowing (Palau,

2001; Smith and Hume, 2005; Thomas and Au, 2002; Tsui and Windsor, 2001). Culture is

said to be closely linked to ethical decision-making through its influence on valuations,

reasoning, attitudes and individualpreferences (Chen et al.,1997;Leung et al., 1995;Lu et al.,

1999). With regardto whistleblowing intentions (WI), culture influencespeople’s perceptions

on three key whistleblowingissues: the kind of activities that are perceived as wrongdoing;

the appropriate response to wrongdoing; and finally, where whistleblowing is seen as the

suitable response, the form of whistleblowing seen as the most appropriate. A significant

culture model which describes and explainshow society’s culture affects the behaviors and

values of its members is Hofstede’s (1980) cultural dimension framework. The model

classifies national cultures into four primary dimensions: power distance, uncertainty

avoidance, individualism and masculinity. Hofstede (1980) explains that these national

culture groupings impact the way the society handles inequality, uncertainty, relationships

and emotional implication of an individual’s gender. Significantly in the case of Africa,

Hofstede (1980) classified African organizations as mainly high-power distance culture

(PDC) where both leaders and subordinates expect and accept that power is distributed

unequally suggesting that employees of African organizations are less likelyto report their

superiors engaged in corporate wrongdoing due to the subjective norm and perceived

control (Ajzen, 1991). Again, employees in African organizations are not expected to

challenge or question their superiors’actions and decisions, and such ethos provides fertile

grounds for leaders or superiors to often perpetuate crimes against their organizations or

nations unnoticed.

However, the over generalization of African organizations as PDC and the negative

consequences it has on whistleblowing may be farfetched. This is because leaders create

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