After the organization: Symbolic capital and negative expert knowledge in post-whistleblowing careers

Abstract

The literature on whistleblowing rightly identifies the retaliatory and psychologically hurtful experiences that whistleblowers go through. As a result, many end up leaving or being dismissed from their organization. However, the literature has been less attentive to the way these negative experiences can in some cases function as a resource that enable whistleblowers to develop new careers after the organization. To explore this idea, the paper analyzes 11 high-profile whistleblower cases and asks: What kinds of professional careers have these whistleblowers pursued after leaving their organization? The analysis finds that 10 out of 11 whistleblowers have found new careers in activism, politics, advocacy, commentary, and journalism. It explains this outcome through Pierre Bourdieu's notion of symbolic capital and a new theoretical concept developed for this paper: negative expert knowledge. The combination of symbolic capital and negative expert knowledge provides whistleblowers with a unique set of skills and qualities that can be converted into new career trajectories. In this way, the paper offers a new approach to life after whistleblowing that looks not only on victimization and destructive experiences but also at the resources, values, and competences associated with this form of action.