Factors Influencing Whistleblowing Intention Among Accountants In Malaysia

Abstract

The accounting field and profession have emphasis the demand for professional accountant to build and develop ethical attitudes early in their career, even before they enter the profession which the accounting profession is closely related with whistleblowing element. To understand the factors that influences an accountant for decision to whistle blow is very crucial for both management and organisations. This study is to investigate the factors that influence an accountants' intention to whistleblowing in Malaysia. This study narrowed the factors into several categories which are organisational factors (organisation size and job level), individual factors (locus of control) and situational factors (seriousness of wrongdoings). A total of 157 accountants had participate in an experimental design adopting four vignettes constituting four different types of wrongdoing. The result indicate that, different kind of unethical behavior reflect different level of intention to whistleblowing. The job level, locus of control and seriousness of wrongdoing were found to be significant factors that were be able to influence accountants' intention to whistleblowing.

Understanding Whistleblowing Intention Among Public Sector Employees in the Northern Region of Malaysia: Does Gender Matter?

“…In some organizations, whistleblowers are not welcome. They will be labelled as troublemakers and will be exposed to numerous risks, including being terminated, blacklisted, detained, sued, or, in the worstcase scenario, assaulted or homicide (Zainol et al, 2018). Before deciding whether or not to report, individuals will evaluate the potential positive and negative implications.…”