In this paper, we discuss how both success and failure induce anxiety, and how narratives help defend against it. We argue, using a psychoanalytic approach, that these narratives become culturally embedded through sharing and approval, and they become available as resources that are often drawn upon unconsciously when faced with anxiety-provoking experiences. Empirically, we draw upon data about Indian employees in India. The Indian cultural context offers rich insights into the interrelatedness of success and failure, anxiety, and narratives as defences in responses to these experiences.
This paper critically examines and reviews the dominant and mainstream perspectives and literature on whistleblowing and offers a new approach to understanding this complex phenomenon using a psychoanalytical lens. Almost all studies on whistleblowing perceive it as an ethical, moral or altruistic act on the part of the whistleblower and overlook the whistleblower's subjectivity in question. This paper offers an in‐depth review of the literature to explore this and addresses the emergent but nascent discourses on whistleblower's subjectivity, offering an alternative perspective suggesting that not all whistleblowers may be prompted by moral compulsion or desire to speak truth to power. It suggests that underlying emotional and unconscious dynamics such as narcissism, in particular narcissistic rage, disillusionment and a sense of betrayal, can be possible factors in deciding to ‘blow the whistle’. Furthermore, the concept of psychological defences and defence mechanisms is discussed in depth and is used to illustrate the dynamics above. In doing so, this paper draws upon extant literatures to challenge and shift existing paradigms on normative whistleblowing literature, offering novel and significant theoretical contributions and an alternative strategic platform for new directions in research and practice.
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