Women in technology who wish to blow the whistle on malfeasance they witness but who fear the consequences of reporting such information have good reason to be cautious. New research shows that female whistleblowers experience more retaliation than male whistleblowers.

The study, "Antecedents and Outcomes of Retaliation Against Whistleblowers: Gender Differences and Power Relationships," sought to identify factors that determine whether a whistleblower would face reprisal. In particular, the study examined whether the whistleblower's gender and level of power in the organization increased or decreased the likelihood that they'd face retaliation.

Research methodology

A group of academic researchers from Georgetown University, Indiana University and Louisiana State University conducted the study on a U.S. Air Force base in the Midwest. The researchers mailed a confidential, 25-page survey to all 9,900 employees on the base.

Marcia Miceli, a professor in Georgetown University's McDonough School of Business who co-authored the study, said the Air Force base was in some ways an ideal environment for the research because it was such a large employer.

"There are very few large studies of whistle blowing in the U.S. or in the world, and you need to have a large sample of employees to get enough possible whistleblowers to answer questions about retaliation," she says.

The survey contained more than 200 questions. Respondents were asked about their positions on the base; whether, over the past year, they had observed on the base any wrongdoing that they considered serious; the type of wrongdoing (they could choose from a list of 17 forms of wrongdoing that included stealing, accepting bribes, waste, mismanagement, sexual harassment and illegal discrimination); whether they reported the malfeasance; if they hadn't reported the wrongdoing, why they hadn't and if they were threatened with or had experienced any of a variety of consequences after reporting the incident, such as a demotion, a poor performance review, verbal harassment, intimidation or tighter scrutiny of their daily activities.

Of the 3,288 base employees who responded to the survey, the majority-63%-indicated that they hadn't witnessed any malfeasance. The remainder, 37%, reported that they had observed wrongdoing.