Problems and Consequences of Whistle Blowing: single instrumental case study of a whistle blower in public sector institution in Punjab, Pakistan

Abstract

The actions of whistleblowers are potentially beneficial in a developed society but it may not be the case in a developing and underdeveloped society. In a developing society like Pakistan, the scenario of whistle blowing is very much different from the other countries. In an atmosphere of massive corruption, citizens have low confidence in public sector organizations when they are in a need to report wrong doings to the authorities. But one, who takes an initiation for it, has to face certain problems and consequences. This paper aims at investigating the problems and consequences of a whistle blower in a public sector organization at micro level. To explain the said issue, this study was conducted by using qualitative case study method and involved the study of a case in real life. The single instrumental case study was conducted with a woman (daily-wage employee) in a public sector university. The overall procedure for conducting a case study was opted from Creswell’s model (Creswell, 2013). Major derived themes from data were catch 22, hydra-headed administrative system, whistle blower protection and individual problems. It is concluded that in the absence of a proper mechanism for whistle blowing, one has to face the consequences so the researchers suggests that every institution might address the said issues by legislating and implementing whistle blowing to secure the whistle blower rights.