Estimating the incidence of wrongdoing and whistle-blowing: Results of a study using randomized response technique

Student cheating and reporting of that cheating represents one form of organizational wrong-doing and subsequent whistle-blowing, in the context of an academic organization. Previous research has been hampered by a lack of information concerning the validity of survey responses estimating the incide...

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Bibliographic Details
Authors: Burton, Brian K. (Author) ; Near, Janet P. (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Springer Science + Business Media B. V 1995
In: Journal of business ethics
Year: 1995, Volume: 14, Issue: 1, Pages: 17-30
Further subjects:B Randomize Response
B Innovative Method
B Survey Response
B Economic Growth
B Questionnaire Result
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Summary:Student cheating and reporting of that cheating represents one form of organizational wrong-doing and subsequent whistle-blowing, in the context of an academic organization. Previous research has been hampered by a lack of information concerning the validity of survey responses estimating the incidence of organizational wrongdoing and whistle-blowing. An innovative method, the Randomized Response Technique (RRT), was used here to assess the validity of reported incidences of wrongdoing and whistle-blowing. Surprisingly, our findings show that estimates of these incidences did not vary significantly when RRT questionnaire results were compared to those obtained from standard surveys. In fact, a large number of business undergraduates admitted cheating while only a small percentage reported peers' cheating when they observed it. These results should be sobering for managers and their implications are considered in some detail.
ISSN:1573-0697
Contains:Enthalten in: Journal of business ethics
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1007/BF00873732