Institutional isomorphism and whistle-blowing intentions in public sector institutions

ABSTRACT

Over the years the new institutionalism in public sector analysis has contributed significantly to our understanding of the dynamics of public sector institutions. While it has moved research away from behavioural explanations to recognizing political and cultural contexts, the focus on public sector institutions has been minimal. This research examines, by self-report questionnaire from employees in two government organizations, how institutional mechanisms shape whistle-blowing intentions within the context of a developing country. Despite the country context, findings from this study are encouraging in that participants’ intentions to blow the whistle were found, generally, to be strong.

KEYWORDS:

• Institutionalism
• whistle-blowing
• ethics
• culture
• South Africa

Acknowledgements

We acknowledge permission granted by Hwang et al for use of their survey. This survey was adapted to our case country context.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Soma Pillay

Dr Soma Pillay is a Senior Lecturer in Management at Federation University, Australia. Soma has taught in undergraduate and postgraduate programs within Organizational Behavior, HRM, Management and Organizations and International Management. She is a senior researcher within the School of Business and has published widely in the area of public sector governance and cross cultural management. More recently she published Development Corruption in South Africa: Governance Matters, as well as Public Sector Organizations and Cultural Change published with Palgrave USA. She is also actively involved in management education and has worked closely with accreditation matters.

P. S. Reddy

Reddy P. S. is a Senior Professor and local government specialist at the University of Kwazulu Natal in South Africa. He is the Project Director of the Working Group on Sub – national Governance and Development of the International Association of Schools and Institutes of Administration (IASIA). He also serves on the Board of Management representing the African Region and on an IASIA – UNDESA Taskforce for Effective Public Administration at the Local Level for the Achievement of the MDGs (now SDGs). Prof Reddy is also an Alternate Associate Board member of the Commonwealth Local Government Forum (CLGF) representing universities and research organisations. He is a rated researcher with the National Research Foundation in South Africa. He received the Donald Stone Award in 2014 from IASIA for being “A Distinguished International Scholar/Practitioner” and for his “Contribution Towards Advancing the Wellbeing of IASIA”. He is the editor/co-editor of nine books focusing on local governance and development and currently serves on the editorial/advisory committee of five journals in South Africa, United States, India and United Kingdom/Australia.

Damian Morgan

Dr Damian Morgan works as a senior lecturer in the Federation Business School, Federation University Australia. Previous academic appointments included Monash University, Lincoln University and James Cook University.Damian’s research interests span social science methods, applied management practice, and injury prevention.