Motive Attributions Shape Judgments of Whistleblowers’ Moral Characters

Public perceptions of whistleblowers are polarized: While some praise them as heroes, others view them as traitors. We argue that such perceptions are rooted in motives attributed to whistleblowers and tested this idea in three studies. A first qualitative study (N = 201) revealed four main motives attributed in whistleblowing situations: prosocial, competitive, individualistic, and deontic. In two subsequent scenario studies (total N = 867), we manipulated how an actor responded to an organizational wrongdoing (type of whistleblowing: no, internal, external, or public whistleblowing) and measured motive attributions and judgments of the actor’s moral character. The type of whistleblowing impacted moral character judgements, mediated by motive attributions. Specifically, the type of whistleblowing impacted all four motive attributions and, in turn, prosocial, competitive, and deontic attributions were associated with moral character judgements.