Understanding the Drivers of Whistleblowing Intention among Civil Servants in Johor Bahru

Abstract

Whistleblowing has been accepted as an important tool of enhancing governance, accountability, and integrity in both the public and the private institutions.  It can help prevent unethical practices since it allows individuals to disclose the information on irregularities to the correct parties.  To safeguard the whistleblowers, the Malaysian government enacted the Whistleblower Protection Act 2010, intended to encourage disclosure by protecting whistleblowers’ identities and confidentiality. However, its function is far from optimal.  To bridge this gap, the present study adopts the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) as its underlying framework to examine the determinants of whistleblowing intention among civil servants in Johor Bahru. TPB posits that intention is shaped by attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioural control. In the whistleblowing context, education is associated with perceived behavioural control, organizational culture reflects the influence of subjective norms, and perceived personal costs capture aspects of attitude.  Using a quantitative approach, a convenience sampling was utilized to collect 188 civil servants in Johor Bahru. Data were analyzed using SPSS. The findings indicate that education and supportive organizational cultures significantly enhance whistleblowing intention, while perceived personal costs failed to influence the likelihood of disclosure.  The study concludes that strengthening educational whistleblowing programs while improving organizational support systems are essential to fostering ethical reporting behaviours in the Malaysian public sector.  This research outlines its limitations and offers practical and theoretical recommendations.