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

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of power distance culture (PDC) on whistleblowing intentions (WI) by examining the moderating effect of gender on the causal relationships.

Design/methodology/approach

The study used descriptive and cross-sectional survey design. Data were obtained from 300 employees of the selected organizations in Ghana and analyzed by using descriptive statistics, correlational and hierarchical regression techniques.

Findings

The results indicate that there is a significant relationship between PDC and WI, and such relationship is moderated by gender. The study also revealed that high PDC is the prevailing culture in the organizations surveyed, indicating low tendency of reporting corporate wrongdoing. However, the result of the moderation analysis indicates being a female worker in a PDC has a stronger influence 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 coworkers in low PDC organizations.

Originality/value

This paper makes a significant contribution 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.

Citation

Puni, A. and Hilton, S.K. (2020), "Power distance culture and whistleblowing intentions: the moderating effect of gender", International Journal of Ethics and Systems, Vol. 36 No. 2, pp. 217-234. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJOES-10-2019-0163