Comparing Chinese and American Managers on Whistleblowing

Whistleblowing involves present or former organization members reporting illegal, unethical or illegitimate activities under the control of organization leaders to parties who are willing and able to take action to correct the wrongdoing. A major shortcoming of prior whistleblowing research concerns the fact that there has been a tendency to examine whistleblowing from a culturally-bound perspective without looking at cultural and international differences. The present paper attempts to extend whistleblowing research into the international arena. This study will consider the differences in culture and societal structures between a United States sample of managers and a Chinese sample of managers with respect to differences in individual, organizational, and moral perception whistleblowing tendencies.