Self-Control, Decision-Making Styles and Ethical Whistle-Blowing in Banks

Whistle blowing can be considered as an ethical act that plays a prominent role in preventing organizational violations. Therefore, better identification and understanding of the factors associated with ethical whistleblowing will play an important role in preventing potential harms caused by organizational errors. The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between self-control, decision-making styles and ethical whistle-blowing in banks.

This is an applied descriptive-correlational study and its statistical population consists of employees of public and private banks in all organizational categories of branches. The statistical sample includes 306 people who have been selected using the accidental sampling method. The research variables were measured using standard questionnaires, and finally, structural equation modeling and confirmatory factor analysis were used to analyze the collected data.

The findings show that self-control has a positive and significant relationship with social desirability, informed decision making and ethical whistleblowing in banks. On the other hand, the effect of self-control through social desirability on the ethical whistleblowing is also positive and significant.

According to the results, it can be said that people who have higher self-control, seek higher social desirability among colleagues and the organization under their supervision and are more likely to whistleblowing. Accordingly, it is better to strengthen the positive personality traits (self-control and conscious decision-making ...) of bank employees by creating ethical instructions, providing booklets and holding motivational courses so that they can benefit from its positive results at the individual and organizational levels.