Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Responses to Legislative Changes: Corporate Whistleblowing Policies

  • Published:
Journal of Business Ethics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Survey responses from Fortune 1000 firms were examined to assess whether firms changed their whistleblowing policies to response to changes in state statutes concerning whistleblowing. We predicted that firms might have created internal channels for whistleblowing in response to new legislation that increased their vulnerability to whistleblowing claims by employees. In fact, very few firms indicated that they had created their policies in responses to legal changes.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Barnett, T. R.: 1992, ‘Will Your Employees Blow the Whistle?’, Human Resources Magazine 37, 76.

    Google Scholar 

  • Barnett, T. R., D. S. Cochran and G. S. Taylor: 1993, ‘The Internal Disclosure Policies of Private-sector Employers: An Initial Look at their Relationship to Employee Whistleblowing’, Journal of Business Ethics 12, 127–133.

    Google Scholar 

  • Baucus, M. S. and J. P. Near: October 1991, ‘Can Illegal Corporate Behavior be Predicted: An Event History Analysis’, Academy of Management Journal 34, 9.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bureau of National Affairs: 1991: ‘Focus on Corporate Sentencing Guidelines’, Individual Employment Rights, p. 4.

  • Callahan, E. S. and T. M. Dworkin: 1994, ‘Who Blows the Whistle to the Media and Why: Organizational Characteristics of Media Whistleblowers’, American Business Law Journal 32, 151– 184.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dworkin, T. M., E. Callahan and J. P. Near: 1995, ‘Governmental and Social Influences on Corporate Responsibility’, Proceedings: International Association of Business and Society.

  • Dworkin, T. M. and J. P. Near: 1987, ‘Whistleblowing Statutes: Are They Working?’, American Business Law Journal 25, 241.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dworkin, T. M. and J. P. Near: 1990, ‘Whistleblower Statutes and Reality: Is There a Need for Realignment?’, 1990 Proceedings: Pacific Southwest Business Law Association.

  • Dworkin, T. M.: 1992, ‘Legal Approaches to Whistleblowing’, in M. P. Miceli and J. P. Near (eds.), Blowing the Whistle (State Chart), pp. 260–273.

  • The Economist: 1995, August 19, pp. 55–56.

  • Ewing, D. W.: 1989, Justice on the Job (Harvard University Press, Boston).

    Google Scholar 

  • Fuller, V.: 1990, ‘An Answer to the Public Perception of Corporations: A Corporate Ombudsperson?’, Business Lawyer 46(November), 29–30.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hans, V. P. and M. D. Ermann: 1989, ‘Responses to Corporate versus Individual Wrongdoing’, Law & Human Behavior 13, 151–166.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hayes, A. S.: 1991, ‘Corporate Sentencing Guidelines Trigger Limited Response’, Wall Street Journal (November 1), p. B3.

  • Keenan, J. P.: 1990, ‘Upper-level Managers and Whistleblowing: Determinants of Perceptions of Company Encouragement and Information about Where to Blow the Whistle’, Proceedings of the 33rd Annual Meeting of the Midwest Academy of Management.

  • Metzger, M., D. Dalton and J. Hill: 1993, ‘The Organization of Ethics and the Ethics of Organizations: The Case for Expanded Organizational Ethics Audits’, Business Ethics Quarterly 3, 27.

    Google Scholar 

  • Miceli, M. P. and J. P. Near: 1992, Blowing the Whistle: The Organizational and Legal Implications for Companies and Their Employees (Lexington, New York).

    Google Scholar 

  • Murphy, J.: 1993, ‘Organizational Sentencing Guidelines Focus’, Regulation Reports 62, 195–197.

    Google Scholar 

  • Near, J. P., T. M. Dworkin and M. P. Miceli: 1993, ‘Explaining the Whistle-blowing Process: Suggestions from Power Theory and Justice Theory’, Organization Science 4, 393–411.

    Google Scholar 

  • Near, J. P. and M. P. Miceli: 1985, ‘Organizational Dissidence: The Case of Whistle-blowing’, Journal of Business Ethics 4, 1–16.

    Google Scholar 

  • United States Sentencing Commission: 1991, Sentencing Guidelines, Chapter 8. (Note: the commission authored the guidelines.)

  • The Wall Street Journal: 1991, September 24, Labor letter, p. A1.

  • The Wall Street Journal: 1993, April 20, p. A1.

  • Whitley, J. D. and T. B. Speckhals: 1994, December 5, ‘Increased Prosecution Predicted’, National Law Journal, p. C1.

  • Wilderotter, J. A.: 1994, March 21, ‘We Fix Problems Instead of Blame’, Letters to the Editor, Wall Street Journal, p. A13.

Download references

Authors
  1. Janet P. Near
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Terry Morehead Dworkin
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Near, J.P., Dworkin, T.M. Responses to Legislative Changes: Corporate Whistleblowing Policies. Journal of Business Ethics 17, 1551–1561 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1005721605301

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1005721605301

Keywords

Search

Navigation