Abstract

When a group engages in moral transgressions, its members face the whistleblower's dilemma: the conflict between remaining loyal to the group or standing up for justice and fairness. The present study investigates the relationships between moral evaluations of whistle-blowing behaviors and the fairness-loyalty tradeoff in emerging adults. The participants read scenarios in which a person blows the whistle on another person's moral transgression and evaluated the whistle-blowing behaviors. The scenarios differ in the levels of relationship closeness between the violator and whistle-blower, and the severity levels of the violations. The results suggest that a fairness-loyalty tradeoff predicts individuals' evaluations of whistle-blowing. Moreover, women evaluated whistle-blowing behaviors more positively than men. There were also significant effects of relationship closeness between the violator and whistle-blower on the severity of violations. These results reveal the psychological and contextual factors that affect individuals’ moral evaluations of whistle-blowing behavior.