Responsible leaders and Whistleblowers: A Call for Partnering

Abstract

This article calls for the nurturing of whistleblowing for the purpose of leveraging the efforts of responsible leaders. Five prepositions are detailed in the paper to support the linkage between the two constructs. The paper argues that whistleblowing can compensate for the weaknesses of prevailing external controls, fortify the responsible actions of leaders, lead to social and institutional entrepreneurship, and employ collective wisdoms and shared leadership, thus leading to broader landscapes for responsible leadership. This article zooms in on the relational aspect of responsible leadership, namely on building bonds with whistleblowers and is a response to the call for a more diverse approach to the study of whistleblowing (Henik, 2015).