1

Issues Inhibiting Whistle Blowing Culture in High-Power Distance and Low Individualism
Society: A Case of State Owned/Private Enterprise in Pakistan
1.0.

Problem Statement

According to Bashir, Khattak, Hanifand Chohan(2010), the culture of whistle blowing is

highly discouraged due to a visible perception of retaliation and apathy in Pakistani
organizations. According to prior research studies, whistle blowing culture in public sector
organizations of Pakistan remains under the negative influence of peers, employees and
managements retribution. In developing countries such as Pakistan, corruption, nepotism,
and bribery are the lead issues creating a discouraging culture for whistle blowing (NAB,
2015). In addition, lack of formal policy and legislative framework can be recognized as
potential causes leading to such socio-economic problems.
2.0.

Relevant Theories

In the literature, whistle blowing is defined as a procedural way of reinforcing the essential
degree of transparency for encouraging foreign investments and free-trapped capital away
from the culture of bribery and corruption (Bashir et al, 2010). In todays business world,
whistle blowing can be recognized as an employee action against illegitimate practices of the
employer. The previous related research studies put significant emphasis on the significance
of cultural factors for determining the issues that inhibit whistle blowing (Dworkin, 2002).
The available literature provides strong evidence on the link between whistle blowing and
cultural factors. For example, review of Hofstedes dimensions of culture depicts that
societies with high power distance and low individuality are less likely to tolerate change as
tendency to challenge the authority is low (Dworkin, 2002). Theoretical understanding
indicates that the lack to consider factors beyond cultural dimensions results in mixed
research results, for example, research conducted by MacNab, Galperin, Worthley, Brislin
and Lituchy (2007) determine no association of individualism and power distance with the
whistle blowing. Contrary to this, the other researches explore certain degree of association
between these three variables. In agreement with Dworkin (2002), the prior literature fails to
consider the factors such as corporate governance, economic development, legal system,
Culture and internal environment the company for whistle blowers protection.
Corporate Governance

The corporate governance factor is essential for any individual to stand against a companys
internal factor and raise his voice since it acts as a shield for the individual to defend his
raised concern.
Economic Development
Economic development is also an important factor as the employment rate and the overall
population defines the leverage that a common person has to whistle blow because choosing
to point out a wrongdoing requires backup support which one needs to have in order to take
the pressure of the whistle blowing.
Legal systems
One of the most important factors that exists for supporting the framework for whistle
blowing is the legal system of a country which defines the boundaries of the actions
permissible. This system is the basis for all the secondary policies and rules that are internal
to an organization.
Culture
Culture plays an important role in this aspect of whistle blowing as the norms and values,
understanding of right from wrong is subjected to each culture therefore the foundation of the
wrong doings and permissible actions is laid down through cultural aspects.
Internal environment
Internal environment of a company is a very important factor as it sets the tenor and trends
for whistle blowing and if the co-workers are supportive, the idea of whistle blowing seems
reasonable.
The framework designed is
Corporate
Governan
Economic
Developm
Legal
system
Culture

Protection for
Whistle Blower

Internal
environm

3.0.

Research Methodology

The above identifiedgap in the existing literature determines a wide scope for the proposed
study to explore the factors or issues that inhibit the culture of whistle blowing.
3.1. Research Design
The proposed research will choose a hybrid research design to explore the issues that restrain
the culture of whistle blowing in developing countries. The reason to choose a hybrid
research design is that the proposed research will not only hypothesis the situation on the

basis of relevant theories, but it will also use quantitative methods to provide empirical
evidence to answer the research issue.
3.2. Data Collection
The proposed research will collect data from primary and secondary sources. For primary
data, the research will conduct a questionnaire survey to gather in-sight information on the
related issues of whistle blowing in Pakistan. For this purpose, the research will randomly
select a sample of 50 respondents comprising of employees and middle-line managers from
four companies (2 from public sector and 2 from private sector). Secondary data will be
collected from published online sources.
3.3. Data Analysis
The research will use SPSS software to perform reliability, regression and correlation test on
data collected from primary sources.
4.0.

Feasibility

At present, scarce academic efforts have been dedicated to the examination of issues
hindering the culture of whistle blowing in country such as Pakistan. Therefore, the proposed
research will focus on exploring the issues inhibiting the whistle blowing culture in Pakistan.
5.0.

References

Bashir, S., Khattak, R. H., Hanif, A. and Chohan, N. S. (2010). Whistle-Blowing in Public
Sector Organizations: Evidence from Pakistan. The American Review of Public, 41(3),
285-296.
Dworkin, M. T. (2002). Whistleblowing, MNCs and Peace. William Davidson Working
Paper, 437, 1-22.
MacNab, B., Galperin, L. B., Worthley, R., Brislin, R. and Lituchy, R. T. (2007). National
Homogeneity

vs.

Regional

Specificity:An

Examination

of

the

Canadian

CulturalMosaic and Whistle-Blowing. Canadian Journal of Regional Science,

XXX(2), 293-312.
NAB.
(2015).
Press

Releases.

[online]

Available

<http://www.nab.gov.pk/PRESS/NEW.ASP?886> [5th March 15]

from

Topic- To evaluate the relationship between whistle blowing culture and

corporate governance practices in public orgabizations of Pakistan: Case
study of PIA/ National Bank/ PSO

The purpose of this dissertation, on the one hand, is to research the connection between
whistleblowing and corporate governance and to use whistleblowers to promote
internal corporate control. The introduction describes how whistleblowing promotes
corporate governance. The second part discusses the background of whistleblowing
and employs different points of view to study whistleblowing. The third part
researches on common laws, state and federal statutes that have the provision of
whistleblower protection and attempts to compare their differences. The fourth part
wilbe based obn the analyses of a survey of PIA employees ( 50 plus sample size) and
thematic analysis of the interviews of HR managers and company secretary/ and or a
member of board of governors.
The important aspects to be covered are corporate culturein public orgabization, impact of
national culture (Hoestede theory), protection of whistle blowers given in company
by-laws, and corporate governance policies of the organization. The survey analysis
wi reveal the relationship of whistle blowing with different components of corporate
governance including legal protection, corporate culture, national cultural elements,

and corporate governance policies related to whistle blowing. The interviews wil help
to probe these four variables and their impact in a detailed manner.