Abstract
Whistleblowing research has shown that many people suffer for speaking out, but what happens to whistleblowers after they experience retaliation? How do they cope?Existing literature tends to focus on the immediate aftermath of whistleblowing disclosures or emphasize the long-term suffering that those that speak up face. In this thesis, I take a different approach and explore how whistleblowers in Australia, Ireland, the United Kingdom and the United States interact with one vital avenue of support - advocacy groups - and how this interaction impacts on the whistleblowing journey.
Using a theoretical framework based on stigma and recognition, I analyse my observations gathered over 10 months in the offices of an advocacy group, as well as 29 interviews with advocacy group members to explore how whistleblowers cope after speaking up, and what impact advocacy groups have on this. I explore how advocates and whistleblowers interact both from the advocates’ point of view, but also from the whistleblower's side. I find that whistleblowers are vulnerable to stigmatization, and when they are stigmatized, it can be understood as one part of a struggle for recognition. Advocates, in working with whistleblowers in various ways, implicitly help them manage this stigma and help them secure the recognition they need by being alternative, authoritative sources from which respect and esteem can be claimed. These findings contribute to both the literature on whistleblowing and recognition, as well as to practice. To the literature on recognition, I contribute a development of Honneth’s theory of recognition that captures how these relationships happen in practice. To whistleblowing literature, I contribute a novel theoretical lens that sheds insight on the process of whistleblowing as complex and unique. I also address an area that is largely under-researched: the role of the advocacy group in working to protect whistleblowers. This gives us insight into how vital this channel of support is to whistleblowers, both on an individual level and a societal level, as it helps them to cope once they have spoken up.
| Date of Award | Dec 2019 |
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| Original language | English |
| Awarding Institution |
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| Supervisor | Kate Kenny (Supervisor) & Cillian McBride (Supervisor) |