Abstract:

This study explored whistleblowing intention and its influencing factors among public sector internal auditors. This study proposes self-efficacy, empathy, ethical leadership and power distance as the whistleblowing antecedents using 210 samples of internal auditors from 25 ministries in Malaysia. This study provides promising routes for future researchers in promoting the whistleblowing intentions among Malaysian internal auditors. The results of this study indicated that self-efficacy and empathy as significant contributors to whistleblowing intention. Meanwhile, no significant relationships between ethical leadership, power distance and whistleblowing intention were found. This study also proposed future research to examine other variables that potentially influence internal auditors whistleblowing intention Delving into study to explore the antecedents that influence the likelihood of whistleblowing is crucial to address integrity and ethical work culture, especially in the public sector.