Negotiating the Meaning of Whistleblowing in Fraud Prevention within the Javanese Public Bureaucracy
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.61194/ijtc.v7i4.2682Keywords:
whistleblowing, fraud prevention, negotiated meaning, javanese bureaucracy, sensemaking theoryAbstract
Whistleblowing is an important fraud-prevention mechanism in public sector organisations, yet the formal availability of a whistleblowing system (WBS) does not necessarily ensure its practical use. This study examines how bureaucratic actors make sense of whistleblowing within a Javanese public bureaucracy and how these interpretations shape responses to suspected organisational irregularities. An interpretive qualitative single-case study was conducted in an anonymised provincial inspectorate in Indonesia, involving five participants comprising two WBS administrators and three users or prospective users. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews, observations, naturally occurring conversations, and institutional documents, and were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis informed primarily by sensemaking theory. The findings identified three interrelated themes: a gap between awareness and formal reporting; negotiation of cultural and religious-ethical considerations; and the interaction of formal reporting expectations with relational and cultural logics. Participants interpreted reporting through concerns about hierarchy, interpersonal relationships, stigma, evidential sufficiency, fitnah, confidentiality, and institutional follow-up. Consequently, responses included formal reporting, informal reminders, internal resolution, delayed action, and silence. The study introduces negotiated meaning as a case-generated analytical label for explaining how formal integrity expectations are reconciled with social and moral considerations. Strengthening WBS implementation therefore requires not only procedural safeguards, confidentiality, and credible follow-up, but also organisational legitimacy that enables reporting to be understood as fair, responsible, and socially defensible.
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Copyright (c) 2026 Octavia Lhaksmi Pramudyastuti, Anis Chariri, Surya Raharja
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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
