The role of employee empowerment in promoting perceived behavioural control over whistleblowing: implications for public organizations

Despite the critical role of power in the whistleblowing process, there has been limited exploration of how employee empowerment, as a managerial approach, can facilitate whistleblowing in public organizations. Drawing on the theory of planned behaviour, we propose that empowering employees contributes to the development of a strong sense of behavioural control over whistleblowing. Using data from the U.S. federal government, we found that employee empowerment and its four distinct practices are positively and significantly associated with perceived behavioural control over whistleblowing. These findings highlight the importance of sharing information, rewards, knowledge, and power with employees to encourage bureaucratic whistleblowing.