State of Whistleblowing Research: A Thematic Analysis

Abstract

The relative starring role of whistleblowing incidences in exposing the corporate wrongdoings and money laundering to combat corruption impeding the development of the economy offers a platform to explore the whistleblowing literature and map the state of scholarship in different national and international journals in the period 2012–2018. It also provides a gap analysis assessment through thematic analysis of the ghettoized articles and brings into focus the possible research lacunas. The outcomes of the analysis reveal that much evolvement has set in motion in terms of many articles published in a varied range of peer-reviewed journals on a myriad of themes focusing mainly on the USA. However, whistleblowing research in India as the cohort is still in its infancy. The convergence of the importance of specific topics such as regulatory mechanisms and reforms, incentives and awards system for promoting the whistleblowing activities as an anti-corruption instrument, and the other fundamental driving forces triggering or hindering the whistleblowing intent signals the presence of the collective body of knowledge in this field. This study may contribute constructively to escalating the advanced research particularly on Indian perspective in order to bring more clarity to streamline the whistleblowing policies and mechanisms with full proof protections against retaliation involved in detecting and disclosing the corrupt practices.