Blowing the Whistle on Sexual Harassment: Test of a Model of Predictors and Outcomes

Abstract

Earlier research on whistle-blowing in organizations has usually investigated whistle-blowing about wrongdoing of various types, with the possibility that results are influenced by the great variety of types of wrongdoing reported by whistle-blowers. Earlier research on sexual harassment has focused primarily on antecedents of the event and outcomes for the individual only, rather than organizational consequences. In this study we attempted to examine both questions: is sexual harassment different from other forms of organizational wrongdoing in its consequences for whistle-blowers and their organizations, and does examination of the sequential process of whistle-blowing about sexual harassment provide a fuller understanding of consequences as well as antecedents for whistle-blowing generally? Results of LISREL modeling of questionnaire data collected in 1994 from some 13,000 US government employees were similar to findings from earlier studies of organizational wrongdoing and whistle-blowing, where the nature of the wrongdoing included issues in addition to sexual harassment.