Whistleblowing intentions among public accountants in Indonesia: testing for the moderation effects

Abstract

Our study contributes by providing new insights into the relationship between the individual levels of the antecedents and how the intention of whistleblowing is moderated by perceived organizational support (POS), team norms (TNs) and perceived moral intensity (PMI). In this paper, we argue that the intention of both internal and external whistleblowing depends on the individual-level antecedents (attitudes toward whistleblowing [ATW], perceived behavioral control [PBC], independence commitment [IC], personal responsibility for reporting [PRR] and personal cost of reporting [PCR]) and is moderated by POS, TNs and PMI. The findings confirm our predictions. Data was collected using an online survey on 256 Indonesian public accountants who worked in the audit firm affiliated with the Big 4 and non-Big 4. The results support the argument that all the antecedents of individual levels can improve the auditors’ intention to blow the whistle (internally and externally). The nature of the relationship is more complex than analysis by adding moderating variables using the Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) approach. We find that POS, TNs and PMI can partially improve the relationship between the individual-level antecedents and whistleblowing intentions. These findings indicate that the POS, TNs and PMI are a mechanism or that attribute is important in controlling behavior.