“Is my voicing up linked to social pain I bear”: examining the correlates of internal whistleblowing
| Date | 26 March 2024 |
| Pages | 756-775 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/ER-07-2023-0378 |
| Published date | 26 March 2024 |
| Subject Matter | HR & organizational behaviour,Industrial/labour relations,Employment law |
| Author | Seep Sethi,Poornima Madan |
“Is my voicing up linked
to social pain I bear”:
examining the correlates
of internal whistleblowing
Seep Sethi
The NorthCap University, Gurugram, India, and
Poornima Madan
Department of OB and HR, Jaipuria Institute of Management,
Noida, India
Abstract
Purpose –Undertaking the theoretical lens of “The need to belong”theory, the present study intends to
explore the aftermath of internal whistleblowing and the behavioral outcomes that follow by linking it to the
literature on workplace ostracism, loneliness and intentions to quit.
Design/methodology/approach –The respondents were hotel employees in the Delhi NCR region of
northern India. A hypothesized sequential mediation model was tested on a sample of employees from a hotel
using a three-wave time-lagged multistudy design.
Findings –The findings of the study established that internal whistleblowing leads to intentions to quit via
workplace ostracism and loneliness at work.
Originality/value –The unique contribution of this study lies in understanding the underlying mechanisms
and discussing the behavioral outcomes that follow post-whistleblowing. HR managers need to develop a work
environment that protects whistleblowers and has a zero-tolerance policy against employees engaging in any
form of retaliation or unethical business practices. Managersmust be more proactive and sensitive to the social
cues that will make them aware of the presence of acts of ostracism. Upon encountering such acts, managers
can consider counseling employees engaging in such unhealthy practices.
Keywords Internal whistleblowing, Workplace ostracism, Loneliness, Intentions to quit, Hotel employees,
The need to belong theory
Paper type Research paper
1. Introduction
Post–Covid-19,the hospitality and tourismindustry is witnessinga healthy growth rate as the
urge to travel amongstpeople post-pandemic is at its all-time high (Kachru, 2022). The global
hospitality market size was valued at around US$3953bn in 2021 in terms of revenue and is
projected toreach US$6716.3bn, by 2028 (Hospitality Global MarketReport, 2022). The Indian
“hospitalityand tourism industry”isalso emerging as a key driver in the growthof the country
as India is consideredone the most popular traveldestinations across theglobe. Considered the
SunriseIndustry, currently, itaccounts for 7.5% of the country’sGDP(“Hospit ality Industry in
India ...”,2023). However, like other businesses or industries, the hospitality industry is also
affectedby cases of unethical practices, corruption, theft and fraud(Papathanassis et al., 2018).
According to a global study on occupational fraud and abuse published by the Report to the
Nation in 2020, foodservice and hospitality organizations must bear unethical behaviors that
amount to approximately 5%–6% of annual revenues (Elshaeret al., 2022). Similarly,The Hotel
and Restaurant Association of Western India (HRAWI) identifies rising incidents of online
booking fraud, cyber-criminal activities, the creationof fake hotel websites on popular search
engines, use of social media and social influencers to create andpost fake reviews; as a grave
cause of concernsince such cases of fraud, unethicalpractices and use of smear campaignsare
ER
46,4
756
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
https://www.emerald.com/insight/0142-5455.htm
Received 26 July 2023
Revised 21 November 2023
19 February 2024
Accepted 22 February 2024
Employee Relations: The
International Journal
Vol. 46 No. 4, 2024
pp. 756-775
© Emerald Publishing Limited
0142-5455
DOI 10.1108/ER-07-2023-0378
not only tarnishingthe brand reputation of many hotels andbars but causing financial loss to
the customers(Tembhe kar, 2023). Most hospitalityorganizations havepre-existing procedures
and platforms for reporting wrongdoing or unethical practices,but, such platforms/protocols
are rarely followed. Organizations are urged to sand brand value, and in doing so
whistleblowing plays an important role in revealing unethical behaviors before the issues
take humongous shape (Kenny et al.,2019).
The present paper intends to explore the aftermath of internal whistleblowing and the
behavioral outcomes that follow an extensively used definition of a whistleblower: those who
voice out about unlawful or immoral behavior and practices followed within their
organization (Alford, 1999, p. 266), and consequently experience reprisal (Alford, 2007;
Baljija and Min, 2023). Whistleblowers have access to both external and internal mediums to
report unethical practices, i.e. (1) internal reporting is when the issue is reported to the
management within the organization and (2) external reporting refers to raising the concern
with an external agency outside the organization like media and law enforcement agencies
(Near and Miceli, 2016). Research suggests that in most cases whistleblowers prefer to report
wrongdoing via internal channels before utilizing external channels (Miceli et al., 2009).
There is sufficientresearch demonstrating the impliedbanishment of whistleblowersfrom
social acceptance; they suffer for speaking up (e.g. Alford, 2001;Culiberg and Miheli
c, 2017;
Kenny, 2018;Kenny et al., 2020;Lennane, 2012;Lewis and Vandekerckhove, 2015). However,
these research studies either offers a conceptualframework for whistleblowers or explorethe
whistleblowingin financial services sectors ofEurope and USA and National Health Services
(NHS) staff in England. Extant literature reports that whistleblowers often face reprisal and
retaliation from their peers and superiors (Sharma and Dhar, 2024). Such retaliation can be
consideredan act of revenge (Rehg et al.,2008) and occurs in many forms –ignoring,exclusion,
avoidance, name-calling, threat, cold shoulder behavior, blamingand bullying to more severe
forms like lossof opportunities, unfavorablejob assignments, demotion, transfer,exit from the
organization(Bjørkelo et al.,2008).The Hotel Associationof India (HAI) and Benori Knowledge
elucidate in thereport “Vision 2047: Indian Hotel Industry”(2023), that $40bn in 2022was the
direct contribution of the hotel industry to GDP, which islikely to reach $68bn by 2027, and it
will reach approx. $1tn by 2047. Hence, the role of the hotel industry in India is vital for its
economic growth. However, in the context of the Indian hospitality industry, there is limited
literaturediscussing the reprisal faced by whistleblowers (Srivastavaand Gupta, 2022), with a
prominent gap in literature discussing reprisal,especially in the form of ostracism.
Workplace ostracism (WO) is defined as feelings of isolation or rejection perceived by an
employee at the behest of others in the workplace (Ferris et al., 2008). WO may damage hotel
performance due to its pervasiveness in the industry (Zhu et al., 2017). Furthermore, ostracized
employees while coping with stress and anxiety experience psychological strain
(Pas
¸amehmeto
glu et al.,2022). There are many acts and legislation for the protection of
whistleblowers against any retaliation across the globe, and in the Indian context, there are
several legislations like the Whistle Blower Protection Act, 2011, 2014; Section 177(9) of the
Companies Act 2013 for the legal protection of whistleblowers. Curtis et al. (2021) in controlled
experiments established that peers have higher intentions to ostracize whistleblowers than the
wrongdoer, even if there are the least sturdy clues that the wrongdoing is unethical. Consequently,
this emphasizes integral complications in rules intended for whistleblower protection.
Like any other service sector, the hospitality sector too necessitates its employees to work
directly with their colleagues and clientele (Srivastava et al., 2023) ensuring that customers
are managed with a big smile, regardless of what an employee faces while working 24/7 with
prolonged hours, stress, less pay, sexual harassment, workplace bullying, incivility, etc.
(Srivastava and Madan, 2023). Given the scenario, it is worth noting that in the context of
whistleblowers based in the Indian hospitality industry, there has been limited research
available on the impact of WO (Hsieh and Karatepe, 2019). The hospitality industry is widely
Correlates of
internal
whistleblowing
757
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