Ethical climate as a moderator between organizational trust & whistle-blowing among nurses and secretaries

Objectives: To reveal the effect of perception of ethical climate by nurses and secretaries and their level of organizational trust on their whistleblowing intention.

Methods: Nurses and secretaries working in a University Hospital in Ankara, Turkey, were enrolled in the study conducted in 2016. Responses were received from 369 nurses and secretaries working at Clinics and Polyclinics. Path analysis, investigation of structural equation models used while multi-regression analysis was also applied.

Results: According to the regression model, ethical climate dimensions, profession, gender, and work place had significant impact on the whistleblowing intention. According to Path analysis, ethical climate had direct impact of 69% on whistle-blowing intention. It was seen that organizational trust had an indirect impact of 27% on the whistleblowing score when ethical climate had a moderator role.

Conclusion: In order to promote whistleblowing in organizations, it is important to keep the ethical climate perception of employees and the level of their organizational trust at high levels.