The whistleblower's dilemma and the fairness–loyalty tradeoff

• The tradeoff between fairness and loyalty corresponds to whistleblowing decisions. • Experimental and dispositional variation in this tradeoff maps onto whistleblowing. • Five studies demonstrate this previously undocumented relationship. • These results shed light on a novel psychological determinant of whistleblowing. a b s t r a c t a r t i c l e i n f o Whistleblowing – reporting another person's unethical behavior to a third party – often constitutes a conflict between competing moral concerns. Whistleblowing promotes justice and fairness but can also appear disloyal. Five studies demonstrate that a fairness–loyalty tradeoff predicts people's willingness to blow the whistle. Study 1 demonstrates that individual differences in valuing fairness over loyalty predict willingness to report unethical behavior. Studies 2a and 2b demonstrate that experimentally manipulating endorsement of fairness versus loyalty increases willingness to report unethical behavior. Study 3 demonstrates that people recall their decisions to report unethical behavior as driven by valuation of fairness, whereas people recall decisions not to report unethical behavior as driven by valuation of loyalty. Study 4 demonstrates that experimentally manipulating the endorsement of fairness versus loyalty increases whistleblowing in an online marketplace. These findings reveal the psychological determinants of whistleblowing and shed light on factors that encourage or discourage this practice. Introduction The decision to report another person's unethical behavior to a third party – to engage in whistleblowing – presents a dilemma. Although some whistleblowers receive heroic acclaim (Johnson, 2003), other whistleblowers face revenge from their community (Dyck, Adair, & Zingales, 2010). For example, a recent editorial reprimanding National Security Agency whistleblower, Edward Snowden, stated that Snowden " faced a moral dilemma " and ultimately " betrayed his employers, " contributing to " the fraying of social fabric " (Brooks, 2013). What then drives whistleblowing decisions? Previous research has investigated structural and organizational factors that influence whistleblowing, including the professional status of whistleblowers, organizational support for whistleblowing, and the type of behavior that people deem unethical and therefore reportable (Gino & Bazerman, 2009). Existing research has not, however, investigated the psychological determinants of whistleblowing. Here, we investigate the cognitive processes underlying people's decision to blow the whistle or not. Specifically , we propose that differences in people's valuation of moral norms, fairness versus loyalty, contribute to whistleblowing decisions. Fairness and loyalty alike represent basic moral values, as reflected in developmental and evolutionary approaches to moral cognition. Infants endorse distributive …