Title: Post-disclosure survival strategies: Transforming whistleblower experiences
Funder: Economic and Social Research Council

Abstract: How can society provide effective support for whistleblowers who struggle post-disclosure? This research is transformative because it rethinks the position of whistleblowers in society, perceiving them as a group that is deserving of effective support. Whistleblowers perform a vital role in society, alerting the public to financial fraud, abuse in institutions and potential environmental disasters. We need these individuals, and recent research shows that 80% of people in the UK believe they too would speak up if they witnessed serious corruption. Even so, many whistleblowers are forced to leave their organisations as a result of their actions and struggle to make ends meet. Whistleblowers and their families tend to live with financial precarity for the rest of their lives. What can be done about this? Given their social importance it is surprising that so little is known about how whistleblowers who leave their organisation, survive post-disclosure. This question is particularly pertinent as statistically, whistleblowers who go public will never work in their chosen industry or sector again (Rothschild & Miethe, 1999) due to stigmatisation and resulting bias at the recruitment phase. While legislation exists that prevents such discrimination, research shows that it is often ineffective. Compounding the problem, whistleblowers tend to be relatively senior in their organisation and more likely to have a family to support. People who speak out in this way do so at great risk to their livelihoods and those of their dependents. Even so, hundreds of thousands of employees have disclosed wrongdoing and seen their disclosure escalate into the public domain. How do these people survive, financially and personally? What can be done to assist? The proposed project will answer these questions by examining the impacts of whistleblowing on those who leave their organisation, focusing for example on stress and mental health implications, and also on financial costs to do with earnings lost and legal fees. Based on these findings, we will explore interventions that can help existing and future whistleblowers by providing advice on income generation opportunities and career management, among other issues. We will trial these via a novel post-disclosure 'career rebuilding' workshop, and with the help of research participants, assess the potential impact of this for people's post-disclosure survival. The research will be designed, executed and disseminated with the help and feedback of existing whistleblowers, and partners in whistleblower advocacy groups in the UK, US and Ireland, arranged via the proposers' current connections with these groups. In addition to these practical impacts, we will explore new theoretical framings for understanding the role of the whistleblower in society. Through a lens that focuses on the precarious nature of whistleblowing, we examine the importance of material supports and symbolic recognition that are upheld by wider society, if whistleblowers are to continue to bring wrongdoing to light.


Research activity codes: 7.1 INDIVIDUAL CARE NEEDS
Health categories: MENTAL HEALTH