Whistleblowing as a Career Crisis: Recovering from Retaliatory Job Loss through a Process of Bifurcation

Abstract

Although whistleblowing is presented as an ethical action, the fate of the employee who has blown the whistle is often marked by reprisals, such as job loss. The literature has so far shown little interest in the whistleblower’s subsequent career. This article investigates how retaliatory job loss impacts his or her career path and the process for re-integrating into the labour market. Based on 11 career narratives focused on the professional experience of French whistleblowers, this article shows that they faced a bifurcation that can be schematized in six stages (event, moratorium, reassessment, job search, insertion, stabilization) as their emotions and actions change over time. As with any job loss, individuals face psychological difficulties associated with the grievance, but this article also highlights specificities, particularly in terms of isolation, reputation and trust in the business world. Their presence threatening the dominant norms, whistleblowers face contradictions and need the support of the social and institutional environment for their professional reintegration.