Religiosity and External Whistleblowing Intention

Abstract

Manuscript type: Research paper
Research aims: This study explores the role of religiosity in external
whistleblowing intention by extending the attitude-behavioural-context
(ABC) theory to the whistleblowing context in Malaysia. A Muslim has
the responsibility to report any wrongdoing in their organisation to
protect public interest, as part of amr bil ma‘ruf wa nahy ‘anil munkar, or
enjoining good and forbidding evil.
Design/Methodology/Approach: This study utilises a structured
questionnaire involving 185 Muslim auditors in Malaysia. A purposive
non-probability sampling technique was used, and the data was analysed
using SmartPLS 3.3.3.
Research findings: The results reveal that religiosity positively influences
the perceived control, self-efficacy, and external whistleblowing intention
of Muslim auditors, but found no evidence to support the hypotheses
related to their attitudes. Further, perceived control and self-efficacy are
shown to positively influence attitude.Theoretical contribution/Originality: From the perspective of the ABC
theory, the findings suggest that self-efficacy and perceived control are
the contextual factors that strongly influence external whistleblowing,
and that religiosity can be added to extend the ABC theory in the
whistleblowing context.
Practitioner/Policy implications: The findings are valuable to audit firms
in understanding the effect of religiosity to Muslim auditors to reveal
wrongdoings in their firms.
Research limitation/Implications: This study is among the first to use
ABC theory to examine religiosity in the context of whistleblowing.
Hence, it fills the gap in the existing literature by illustrating how ABC
theory can be applied in the study relating to the ethical behaviour of
accounting professionals.