Whistleblowing Costs and ISP Violation Reporting Intentions

Authors

• Murad Moqbel, The University of Texas Rio Grande ValleyFollow
• Mohammad I. Merhi, Indiana University South Bend
• Mohammad Rajon Meah, Uttara University
• Khaled A. Alshare, Qatar University

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

5-25-2026

Abstract

This study examines how the perceived costs of whistleblowing influence employees’ intentions to report information security policy violations. Drawing on ethical egoism theory, it investigates the mediating role of moral beliefs and the moderating role of trust in authority. Using a scenario-based survey with U.S. participants, two common ISP violations—password sharing and failure to log off workstations—were tested. Data were collected via print and online surveys and analyzed with Partial Least Squares to assess structural and measurement models. Results show that intrinsic whistleblowing costs, such as fear of retaliation, social repercussions, and workplace disruption, reduce reporting intentions. However, strong moral beliefs and trust in authority lessen these negative effects. This study offers a more nuanced measurement of whistleblowing costs and highlights the need to cultivate ethical values and institutional trust to promote reporting, thereby strengthening organizational information security.

Comments

This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Journal of Computer Information Systems on May 25, 2026, available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/08874417.2026.2678196

Recommended Citation

Moqbel, M., Merhi, M.I., Meah, M.R. and Alshare, K.A., 2026. Whistleblowing Costs and ISP Violation Reporting Intentions. Journal of Computer Information Systems, pp.1-16. https://doi.org/10.1080/08874417.2026.2678196

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License

Publication Title

Journal of Computer Information Systems

DOI

10.1080/08874417.2026.2678196