Now showing 1 - 2 of 2
  • Publication
    Whistle-blowing in the Australian Public Service: The role of employee ethnicity and occupational affiliation
    (Emerald Publishing Limited, 2018) ;
    Rice, Bridget
    Purpose - Whistle-blowing has the important role of reducing the prevalence and impact of wrongdoing in organisations. The purpose of this paper is to utilise a very large survey of Australian Public Service (APS) workers to replicate the findings of previous studies in relation to whistle-blowing likelihood and to extend the quantitative findings in relation to whistle-blowing antecedents to include ethnicity or cultural marginalisation and occupational and professional role and affiliation. Design/methodology/approach - The authors utilise the 2014 APS Census, a large data set containing 100,000 observations relating to employee engagement, leadership, health, satisfaction and general impressions of the public service. Logistic regression is employed to obtain estimates and marginal effects in respect to predictors for whistle-blowing. The authors determine the Bayesian information criterion to assess the impact of ethnicity on the probability of whistle-blowing. Findings - The findings support the notion that organisational "outsiders" tend to report perceived wrongdoing less than those who feel assured of their cultural or organisational status. The authors further find support for the notion that membership of small organisational groupings, primarily measured by organisational size, also tends to reduce the whistle-blowing likelihood. Opportunities for further research and potential policy and practical issues are discussed briefly in conclusion. Originality/value - While confirming the predictors seen in many previous studies, the authors identify groups who report more or less than expected that have not been reported in previous research. These include employees from a non-English speaking background and various occupational and professional groups "at risk" of low reporting.
  • Publication
    Loyal employees in difficult settings: the compounding effects of inter-professional dysfunction and employee loyalty on job tension
    (Emerald Publishing Limited, 2017)
    Rice, Bridget
    ;
    Knox, Kathy
    ;
    ;
    Martin, Nigel
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    ;
    Fitzgerald, Anneke
    Purpose Employee loyalty is generally a very positive trait. However, when loyal employees are confronted with dysfunctionality in the workplace the impact on their well-being can be significant. The purpose of this paper is to assess the interaction of employee loyalty and employee experience of inter-professional dysfunction in a hospital setting to predict employee job tension. Design/methodology/approach The paper is based on the analysis of a cross-sectional attitudinal survey of employees within a hospital setting in Australia. The authors use OLS regression and an SPSS macro (by Hayes, 2013) to assess the regions of significance of the interaction effects. Findings The authors find, as anticipated, significant direct effects for employee loyalty and inter-professional dysfunction on employee job stress. The authors further find significant interaction effects that suggest that highly loyal employees who experience inter-professional dysfunction also experience disproportionately high levels of job tension. Research limitations/implications The main research implication of this research relates to the confirmation of the presence of an interaction effect between loyalty and inter-professional dysfunction in predicting employee job stress. Further, the zone of significance analysis (following Johnson and Neyman) suggests that this effect is evident at even low levels of inter-professional dysfunction. Practical implications Organisations should appreciate employee loyalty but should also be aware that loyal employees are more vulnerable to the negative consequences of organisational dysfunction than are employees with limited organisational loyalty. Social implications The paper confirms the importance of managing organisational cooperation between groups in organisations as a precursor to positive employee outcomes. Originality/value This is the first paper to investigate this interaction and to apply Johnson-Neyman analysis to confirm the regions of significance for the interaction effects noted.