Exploring Whistleblowing Trends Through Bibliometric Analysis: A Global Perspective

Abstract

This research aimed to explore whistleblowing and identify future trends in whistleblowing research by using bibliometric analysis. The data used in this study of 440 documents sourced from 183 journals, books and other sources from 1982 to 2022 obtained from the Scopus database with specific subject areas including economics, econometrics and finance business, and management and accounting. The analysis revealed that the number of published articles related to whistleblowing has steadily increased since 1982, with a peak of articles published in 2022 indicating sustained interest in the topic. This study comprehensively demonstrates that whistleblowing, ethics and fraud are the most commonly studied variables. The study suggests that future research could be strengthened by exploring less commonly used variables to gain a more comprehensive understanding of factors contributing to ethical behaviour and misconduct in organisations.