There is a growing interest in corporate whistleblowing, but no comprehensive research has yet focused on public relations practice. Drawing on extensive research on Fortune 1000 and Wilshire 5000 corporations, this book reveals executives’ attitudes and relationships toward their organizations and their impact on whistleblowing. Perhaps unsurprisingly, it reveals that wrongdoing in corporations and the privileges of power coexist. Top-ranking public relations executives, who are mostly white and male, are more likely to be aware of wrongdoing but no more likely to blow the whistle, fundamentally due to their positive relationship with their employers. Using the new lens of evolutionary theory, this study explains whistleblowing, retaliation, and relationships, and in the light of the connection between whistleblowing behavior and executives’ attitudes, it proposes a new theory of the phenomenon of Golden Handcuffs. As public attitudes to corporations, corporate social responsibility (CSR), and transparency harden, these findings have serious implications for companies globally. Researchers, scholars, and advanced students in public relations, organizational communication, corporate communication, strategic communication, corporate reputation, and CSR will find this book full of revealing insights.

Whistleblowing, Communication and Consequences offers the first in-depth analysis of the most publicized, and morally complex, case of whistleblowing in recent European history: the Norwegian national lottery, Norsk Tipping. With contributions from the whistleblower himself, as well as from key voices in the field, this book offers unique perspectives and insights into not only this fascinating case, but into whistleblowing and wrongdoing in organizations more broadly. An international team of scholars use fourteen different theoretical lenses to show the complex and multi-faceted nature of whistleblowing. The book begins with an ethnographic account by the whistleblower story and proceeds into an analysis of the literature and conceptual topics related to that whistleblowing incident to present the lessons that can be learnt from this extreme example of institutional failure. This fascinating, complex, and multi-theoretical book will be of great interest to scholars, students and industry leaders in the areas of public relations, corporate communication, leadership, corporate social responsibility, whistleblowing and organizational resistance.

øFeaturing contributions from scholars and policy practitioners in a number of diverse fields _ including sociology, political science, psychology, information systems, media studies, business, management, criminology, public policy and several branche

We are living in a time of mind-boggling corruption, but we are also living in a golden age of whistleblowing. Over the past two decades, whistleblowers have emerged as both the government's best weapon against corporate misconduct and the citizenry's best defence against government. Drawing on relentless original research, including in-depth interviews with more than 200 whistleblowers, Crisis of Conscience is a modern-day David-and-Goliath saga, told through a series of riveting cases drawn from Big Pharma, the military, and beyond.

UPDATED IN MARCH 2013 to include the historic $104-million Bradley Birkenfeld whistleblower case and more! From the nation’s leading whistleblower attorney, comes the third edition of the first-ever consumer guide to whistleblowing. In The Whistleblower’s Handbook, Stephen Martin Kohn explains nearly all federal and state laws regarding whistleblowing. In the step-by-step bulk of the book, he also presents twenty-one rules for whistleblowers.

Praise and Reviews "This book on ethics is long overdue. Thoughtful yet thoroughly practical, it will help public relations professionals tussling with ethical dilemmas. The ethical decision-making models will be especially useful."Mike Granatt, FIPR, Partner, Luther Pendragon; former Director General of the Government Information and Communications Service (GICS), CanadaEthical questions and dilemmas are inherent to public relations, and ensuring that practitioners operate ethically is fundamental to the professionalism and credibility of the field. Ethics in Public Relations gives readers the tools and knowledge to enable them to make defensible decisions, and outlines the important ethical concerns in public relations and corporate communications.Written in a practical and approachable style, this is not another 'tome' on ethical theory but rather a clear insight into the personal and professional issues that affect public relations practitioners. It examines how an individual's sense of morality has an impact on decision-making and ethical business behaviour. Overall, the purpose of Ethics in Public Relations is threefold:to provide a framework for understanding important ethical issues in public relations and corporate communications now and in the futureto help develop an attitude that supports the concept that ethics are key to professionalism and credibility in the fieldto assist in everyday ethical decision-makingWritten by a leading academic in the field, this practical and engaging title is a must-have for any public relations practitioner or student who wants a framework that relates underlying ethical theories to everyday issues.

Recent years have seen a number of whistleblowers risk their liberty to expose illegal and corrupt behaviour. Some have heralded their bravery; others see them as traitors. Can there be a moral duty to emulate their example and blow the whistle? In this book, leading political philosophers Emanuela Ceva and Michele Bocchiola draw on well-known cases, such as those of Edward Snowden and Chelsea Manning, to probe the difference between permissible and dutiful whistleblowing. They argue that, insofar as whistleblowing is understood as an individual act of dissent, it falls short of constituting a duty, although it can be praiseworthy. Whistleblowing should, they contend, be seen as an institutional duty, embedded within the organizational practices of public accountability. This concise book will be invaluable for students and scholars of applied political theory, and political and professional ethics.