Can hotel employees arise internal whistleblowing intentions? Leader ethics, workplace virtues and moral courage

PurposeThis study investigates the relationship between leaders' ethical behaviors and internal whistleblowing among hotel employees through the mediation role of organizational virtuousness. According to the conceptual framework, ethical leadership creates a virtuous workplace and encourages whistleblowing.Design/methodology/approachA survey approach with responses of 442 employees from Egyptian five-star hotels was used. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to test the hypotheses proposed based on leader-member exchange (LMX) and ethical leadership theories.FindingsEthical leadership has a favorable impact on organizational virtuousness and, as a result, has a significant impact on whistleblowing intention. The ethical leaders-subordinates' intents to whistleblow association partially mediated organizational virtuousness. To assist them in reporting ethics violations, most hotel employees require organizational characteristics, such as organizational climate and psychological empowerment, in addition to individual characteristics, such as moral bravery and ethical efficacy.Originality/valueThe conceptual framework of this paper adds a new guide for future research related to the hospitality literature, which is how employees' intent to internal whistleblowing. As such, senior management should serve as a moral role model for hotel employees, inspiring them to be moral and allowing them to participate in decision-making.

Automated summary

The relationship between leaders' ethical behaviors and internal whistleblowing among hotel employees is investigated in this study through the mediation role of organizational virtuousness. Ethical leadership has a favorable impact on organizational virtuousness and whistleblowing intention. The association between ethical leaders and subordinates' intention to whistleblow is partially mediated by organizational virtuousness. In addition to individual characteristics like moral bravery and ethical efficacy, hotel employees require organizational characteristics such as organizational climate and psychological empowerment to assist them in reporting ethics violations.