000 03172nam a22001937a 4500
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082 _aTH 2024-11
100 _aArora, Harnain Kaur
_9426221
245 _aExploring the trajectory of moral courage in whistleblowing at work: actual whistleblowers’ lived experiences
260 _aAhmedabad
_bIndian Institute of Management
_c2024
300 _a261 p.
_cIncludes tables and figures
500 _aThesis Advisory Committee Prof. Premilla D'Cruz (Chair Person) Prof. Parvinder Gupta & Prof. Ernesto Noronha (Member)
520 _aWrongdoings at work have the potential to harm the interests of individuals, organizations and the wider society, making it necessary that they get reported to prevent adverse consequences. Accordingly, whistleblowing at work, which is “the disclosure by organisation members of illegal, immoral or illegitimate practices under the control of their employers, to persons or organisations that may be able to effect action” (Near & Miceli, 1985, p. 5), becomes relevant. The importance of courage, particularly moral courage, in the context of whistleblowing has been highlighted by many research scholars in the past; yet, its role has been underexplored. To fill this void, the current study explored the trajectory of moral courage in whistleblowing at work through actual whistleblowers’ lived experiences. van Manen’s (1990) hermeneutic phenomenology was adopted to explore the lived experiences of 24 whistleblowers across various kinds of organizations, organizational levels, occupations, sectors and geographical locations in India. The study took D’Cruz and Bjorkelo’s (2016) contextualized process model of whistleblowing at work as its theoretical point of departure to explore the lived experiences of moral courage among whistleblowers. Following van Manen (1990), the data, gathered through in-depth interviews, were thematically analyzed, leading to the identification of three core themes, namely, ‘moral courage with minimal fear’, ‘moral courage with tractable fear’ and ‘moral courage with excessive fear’. Each core theme comprised major themes, themes and sub-themes. Various trustworthiness criteria were followed to ensure methodological rigour. The study shows that fear may not be central in the conceptualization of moral courage; yet, it plays a quintessential role in impacting whistleblowers’ trajectory and nature of moral courage to blow the whistle. The study validates D'Cruz and Bjorkelo’s (2016) contextualized process model of whistleblowing by showing the importance and interaction of organizational, situational and societal factors, beyond individual factors. In so doing, the study adds to the existing knowledge on the link between moral courage and whistleblowing by showing how a plethora of factors operating at multiple levels of analysis together impact the moral courage of whistleblowers.
650 _aWhistleblowing
_9431230
650 _aWorkplace courage
_9431231
650 _aMoral courage
_9431232
856 _3e-Thesis
_uhttps://vslir.iima.ac.in:8443/xmlui/handle/11718/27340
942 _cTHESES
999 _c222315
_d222315