Whistleblowing : a systematic literature review of methods, findings, and future direction

Abstract

Whistleblowing is an important ethical issue that is gaining an increasing scholarly attention. The study aims at providing a point of reference and another of guidance for future research on the topic of whistleblowing by exploring its methods and findings. A systematic literature review approach was conducted to scrutinize the adequacy of the methodologies used, and to summarize the major findings. Systematic literature review is a powerful tool of aggregation and integration of the data. The final sample included in this review consists from 77 empirical articles. This study will help to sharpen the methodological skills used to test whistleblowing and to ascertain where we stand in the topic. This synthesis allowed the inference on the state of the methodologies and themes discussed in the existing literature of whistleblowing. To better tackle whistleblowing in future research a shift in the methods and a breadth of coverage is needed.