Peer-Reviewed Publication

Carnegie Mellon University

Wrongdoing is endemic to organizations, costing U.S. firms billions of dollars in fraud. The primary way wrongdoing is caught is through whistleblowers, who have long been thought to act out of a desire to help or improve their organization.

A new study considered a different angle, looking at individuals as members of organizations as well as members of social groups to understand how group affiliations affect the likelihood of whistleblowing. The study found that group cohesion reduced individuals’ tendencies to blow the whistle on wrongdoers inside their group but increased their tendency to do the same on wrongdoers outside of their group.

The study, by researchers at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) and the University of California, Irvine (UCI), is published in Organization Science.

Determining the Impact of Social Structure on Whistleblowing

“Understanding the effects of group dynamics on whistleblowing can inform organizational interventions to detect and prevent wrongdoing,” explains Brandy Aven, Associate Professor of Organizational Theory, Strategy, and Entrepreneurship at CMU’s Tepper School of Business, who co-authored the study. “By understanding how individuals identify and associate with each other, we can determine the impact of social structure on responses to wrongdoing.”

Seeing whistleblowers as individuals who act for the organization’s benefit neglects the fact that these individuals are not only...

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