Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore how a perceived ethical climate influences employees’ intention to whistle-blow through internal organizational channels and incorporates the mediating role of organizational identification and moral identity as well as the moderating role of individual risk aversion. Design/methodology/approach – The five proposed hypotheses were tested using hierarchical regression analysis with two waves of data collected in 2016 from 667 employees in Chinese organizations. Findings – The findings indicate that perceived ethical climate had a positive effect on employees’ internal whistle-blowing intention, which was mediated by organizational identification and moral identity. Furthermore, employees’ risk aversion weakened the effect of organizational identification, while the moderating role by moral identity on internal whistle-blowing intention was not validated. Originality/value – This study explains the psychological mechanism of whistle-blowing intention from the perspective of social identity, which contributes to opening the “black box” of the transmitting processes from the perceived ethical climate to whistle-blowing intention. This study also extends the literature by defining a boundary condition of risk aversion that hinders organizational identification influence on employee whistle-blowing intention.

Discussion

The improvement of business practices in transition economies in China emphasizes the importance of ethical management. To avoid unethical behavior that harms the interests of organizations, employees and the public, organizations should induce their employees to be whistle-blowers when they observe wrongdoing in organizations. To understand why and when employees are willing to whistle-blow, we developed and examined a model that links organizational ethical climate and employee whistle-blowing intention and that includes organizational identification and moral identity as mediators and risk aversion as a moderator. The results show that perceived ethical climate was positively associated with whistle-blowing intention and that the relationship was mediated by organizational identification and moral identity. Furthermore, individual risk aversion weakened the effect of organizational identification on whistle-blowing intention but did not weaken the effect of moral identity on whistle-blowing intention. The results offer comprehensive insights into the mechanisms by which the perceived ethical climate manifests itself in whistle-blowing and the specific condition under which the motivation of organizational identification on intended whistle-blowing is weakened.