Ethics And Compliance Whistleblowing Systems In Hungarian Large Companies

Abstract

In this research we were looking for the answer to the question whether ethics and compliance whistleblowing systems operating in developed countries can also work in large companies in a central European formerly socialist country where on the one hand ethics institutionalization dates back to a shorter period of time and on the other hand people associate whistleblowing systems with the network of informers and if so, how do they work. The aims of this study are: (1) to introduce the theoretical background the concepts of whistle blowing, (2) to describe the results of international and domestic researches regarding whistleblowing systems, and (3) to use quantitative research methods to investigate the characteristics of whistleblowing systems in large Hungarian companies. The empirical survey indicates that company whistleblowing systems work less efficiently in practice in the surveyed company range which might refer to the deficiency in the external and internal ethics communication as well as to the low level of trust.