Exploring grey zone behaviours between corruption and whistleblowing

Literature on corruption and whistleblowing is increasing over the last years. However, we contend that individual reactions to a corrupt proposal could differ from the mentioned behaviours. In more detail, we contend that a ‘grey zone’ between accepting corruption and whistleblowing does exist. This paper aims at exploring what are the behaviours defining this ‘grey zone’ as nuanced behaviours adopted to react to a corrupt proposal. We draw from Miceli and Near’s process of whistleblowing to open the scope for the comprehension of grey behaviours in the decision-making process following to a triggering event. Making a case from the Italian public administration through interviews and storytelling, we explore what kind of behaviours might define the grey zone. Findings unveil nuanced behaviours configuring neither as corruption nor whistleblowing, ranging from ignoring the corrupt proposal to explicit contraposition. Also, they reveal different social and individual outcomes affecting future relationships in organizations. The findings allow to extend Miceli and Near’s process to a wider spectrum of response behaviours to triggering events such as receiving, or assisting to, a corrupt proposal. Although recognizing that some limitations might be in that the situations detected could be only a part of a possible wider ‘grey zone’, findings provide interesting implications under theoretical, practical, social, and policy making perspectives, advancing a debate on nuanced behaviours between corruption and whistleblowing. This provides a support both for organizations and policy makers for a better understanding of individual behaviours and improving actions and policies to prevent corruption and encourage whistleblowing.