Skip to main content

Publications

  1. Kenny, K. (2019) Whistleblowing: Toward a New Theory. Harvard University Press.
  2. Kenny, K. (2018) Censored: Impossible speech and financial sector whistleblowers. Human Relations 71(8): 1025–1048.
  3. Kenny, K. (2015) Whistleblowing in Banks and the Role of Time. International Whistleblower Research Network Conference, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. (listen the audio record)
  4. Kenny, K. (2014) Banking compliance and dependence corruption: Towards an attachment perspective. Law and Financial Markets Review 8(2): 165-177(access to full text)
  5. Financial Times FT Advisor (2019) Whistleblowing: Toward a new theory by Kate Kenny (review)
  6. Irish Times (2019) Why do we treat whistleblowers so horribly?
  7. Sunday Business Post (2019) When the whistle falls on deaf ears
  8. RTE Brainstorm (2019): Are banks and bankers capable of changing their tune?  (op-ed)
  9. RTE Brainstorm (2019) What I learned about Irish banking culture from whistleblowers (op-ed)
  10. Yorkshire Post (2019) Why we are all to blame for vicious mistreatment of whistleblowers
  11. Yorkshire Post (2019) Why British Whistleblowers need a safety net to protect them from blacklisting

Whistleblowing Towards a New Theory

Society needs whistleblowers, yet to speak up and expose wrongdoing often results in professional and personal ruin. Kate Kenny draws on the stories of whistleblowers to explain why this is, and what must be done to protect those who have the courage to expose the truth.

Despite their substantial contribution to society, whistleblowers are considered martyrs more than heroes. When people expose serious wrongdoing in their organizations, they are often punished or ignored. Many end up isolated by colleagues, their professional careers destroyed. The financial industry, rife with scandals, is the focus of Kate Kenny’s penetrating global study. Introducing whistleblowers from the United States, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, and Ireland working at companies like Wachovia, Halifax Bank of Scotland, and Countrywide–Bank of America, Whistleblowing suggests practices that would make it less perilous to hold the powerful to account and would leave us all better off.

Kenny interviewed the men and women who reported unethical and illegal conduct at major corporations in the run up to the 2008 financial crisis. Many were compliance officers working in influential organizations that claimed to follow the rules. Using the concept of affective recognition to explain how the norms at work powerfully influence our understandings of right and wrong, she reframes whistleblowing as a collective phenomenon, not just a personal choice but a vital public service.

Reviews and Honours for this book: Irish Times, Financial Times FT AdviserSunday Business PostCornell University, School of Industrial and Labour Relations

Learn more and buy the book


What’s luck got to do with it? Everything, if you are a banking whistleblower

by Kate Kenny

Think whistleblowing is a matter of telling the truth? Think again. “Successful” whistleblowing, where the protagonist actually manages to make themselves heard in the media and get the support of the public, is a matter of luck.

Read the full article on The Conversation


Whistleblowing in financial sector organizations

Towards an identity work perspective

by Kate Kenny


A cold winter for corporate whistleblowers?

by Meghan Van Portfliet and Kate Kenny

Robust whistleblowing protection laws save businesses money. And they help keep us safe. Until recently, Ireland had one of the strongest whitleblowing regimes in the world, according to international observers. This summer, that changed.

Read the full article on the Irish Times


The Whistleblowing Guide

Society needs whistleblowers, yet to speak up and expose wrongdoing often results in professional and personal ruin. Kate Kenny draws on the stories of whistleblowers to explain why this is, and what must be done to protect those who have the courage to expose the truth.

The financial industry, rife with scandals, is the focus of Kate Kenny’s penetrating global study. Introducing whistleblowers from the United States, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, and Ireland working at companies like Wachovia, Halifax Bank of Scotland, and Countrywide–Bank of America, Whistleblowing suggests practices that would make it less perilous to hold the powerful to account and would leave us all better off.

Using the concept of affective recognition to explain how the norms at work powerfully influence our understandings of right and wrong, she reframes whistleblowing as a collective phenomenon, not just a personal choice but a vital public service.

Learn more and buy the book


Get in Touch

We regularly support and consult with organisations involved in supporting whistleblowing internationally.

Get in touch with the research team.

If you would like information of other free and practical whistleblowing resources, please email us.