Public Employees' whistleblowing intention: Explanation by an adapted theory of planned behavior

Yahong Zhang, Wan Ju Hung, Hsiang Kai Dong, Don Yun Chen

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

1 Scopus citations

Abstract

Public employees' whistleblowing is an effective anti-corruption means because they can provide rigorous evidence of wrongdoing in public organizations. However, whistleblowing may cause risks to the individuals and their organization, which discourage them from reporting. While the topic has been understudied, a few studies have adopted the theory of planned behavior (TPB) from psychology to gain insights into whistleblowing. However, these studies have overlooked the unique characteristics of the public sector and the contextual factors surrounding whistleblowing. Our research aims to fill this gap by incorporating these missing elements into the theoretical framework and thus developing an adapted TPB. Using survey data from Taiwan, this study provides empirical evidence to support the adapted TPB in explaining the intention of public employees to blow the whistle. Chinese Abstract: 由公務人員本身來舉報不法事件, 被視為是一種相當有效的反貪腐手段, 因為他們通常能夠提供這些不當行為的有力證據。然而, 舉報不法事件卻可能會對公務人員個人或其單位帶來風險, 也因此往往成為其最終選擇沉默的主要原因。雖然過去已有一些研究採取「計劃行為理論 (TPB)」來探討此一主題, 但這些研究卻沒有考量公部門獨有的特性及環境系絡對舉報行為的影響。本研究希望能夠整合這些過去被遺漏的要素, 並且發展出更適合公部門的理論框架。本研究使用臺灣文官調查 (TGBS) 所蒐集的資料, 進行實證分析並用更完整的 TPB 模型來解釋公職人員舉報不法的行為意圖。.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)115-135
Number of pages21
JournalPublic Administration
Volume103
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Mar 2025
Externally publishedYes

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Sociology and Political Science
  • Public Administration

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