BARRIERS TO SUCCESSFUL IMPLEMENTATION OF WHISTLE BLOWERS’ PROTECTION FRAMEWORKS

Abstract

Whistle blowing is indispensable towards efficient and effective use of resources
in a bid to achieve sustainable economic growth. It guard against all sorts of
unethical behaviors in organizations which include corruption, embezzlement,
bribery and fraud among other factors. Nonetheless, although whistle blowing is
very crucial in companies, it is associated with a number of barriers that hinders
the oversight mechanism of whistle blowers. Thus it against these obstacles that
this study was found worth to unveil the obstacles that hinders the whistle
blowers to effectively perform their oversight function. The study is anchored on
the whistle blower’s protection frameworks which clearly outlines the barriers of
whistle blowing and provides a guide line to deal with such barriers. The
research was therefore designed using a mixed methodology approach, to carry
out a descriptive survey across a sample of 384 workers in both the private and
public sectors who were picked using stratified and purposive sampling
techniques. Questionnaires were used to gather information some of which
being distributed online to counter the travel challenges during the time of
study. The study found out that in Zimbabwe most common barriers to
successful implementation of whistle blowers protection framework include fear
of retaliation, lack of support from management, confidentiality, duty loyalty and
lack of freedom of speech. It was thus, concluded that Zimbabwe needed to
look into the matter and come up with relevant policies to maintain freedom and
safety of whistleblowers across the country.