| Summary: | This study examines experimentally the effect of loyalty level and
retaliation strength, on accountants� propensity to blow the whistle (PBW) when
faced with a serious wrongdoing. It is argued that individuals with higher levels of
loyalty are more likely to blow the whistle than are individuals with lower levels
of loyalty. Besides, it is expected that individuals facing a weak retaliation are
more likely to blow the whistle than are individuals facing a strong retaliation.
Seventy working students enrolled in post-graduate of accounting program in two
Indonesia universities participated in the study. Participants responded to three
hypothetical whistle-blowing scenarios on one of two conditions �i.e., strong or
weak retaliation for whistleblowing, and completed an instrument that measured
loyalty. This study examines the arguments using the 2x2 between subjects
design. Unconsistent with the philosophical theory of Larmer (1992), Corvino
(2002), and Vandekerckhove and Commers (2004), this study empirically finds
that the level of loyalty does not affect their PBW. In other words, this study fails
to obtain empirical evidence about the effect of loyalty level on PBW. Besides,
unlike results reported in Arnold and Ponemon (1991) and Liyanarachchi and
Newdick (2009), a significant effect of retaliation strength on participants� PBW
is not found.
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