The Whistle Blows Differently Across Cultures

Keywords: moral behavior, whistleblowing, cultural psychology, corruption, trust in authority, reporting of transgressions, individualist-collectivist cultures

On this episode we discuss how cultural factors can encourage/discourage the reporting of transgressions (i.e., speaking up about someone committing a crime, calling out cheating in school, or bullying/harassment at work). We also touch on how certain incentive strategies (rewards and punishments) designed to encourage the reporting of transgressions might work better in some cultures than others. For example, offering individual rewards like money to persons who report a bad behavior may be more effective in individualist cultures (typical of the US) compared to the same strategy when offered in a collectivist culture (typical of East Asian countries like China, and also Argentina). 

The website below shows where different countries rank along these different aspects of culture (individualism, power distance, masculinity, etc.). You can easily compare among several different countries simultaneously.

www.hofstede-insights.com/product/compare-countries/
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