Motive Attributions Shape Judgments of Whistleblowers’ Moral Characters - Empirical Research Paper
article
Public perceptions of whistleblowers are polarized: While some praise them as heroes, others view them as traitors. We argue that such perceptions are rooted in motives attributed to whistleblowers and tested this idea in three studies. A first qualitative study (N = 201) revealed four main motives attributed in whistleblowing situations: prosocial, competitive, individualistic, and deontic. In two subsequent scenario studies (total N = 867), we manipulated how an actor responded to an organizational wrongdoing (type of whistleblowing: no, internal, external, or public whistleblowing) and measured motive attributions and judgments of the actor’s moral character. The type of whistleblowing impacted moral character judgments, mediated by motive attributions. Specifically, the type of whistleblowing impacted all four motive attributions and, in turn, prosocial, competitive, and deontic attributions were associated with moral character judgments. © 2025 by the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Inc
TNO Identifier
1015541
ISSN
01461672
Source
Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, pp. 1–16.
Publisher
SAGE Publications Inc
Article nr.
01461672251340111
Pages
1–16