Ethical Decisions between the Conflicting Priorities of Legality and Group Loyalty
Scrutinizing the 'Code of Silence' among Volunteer Firefighters with a Vignette-Based Factorial Survey
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 2153399 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Julia Kleinewiese (0000-0003-0053-219X, Kiel University, Kiel, Germany), Peter Graeff (0000-0003-1110-0384, Kiel University, Kiel, Germany, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2021 |
| Volume | 42 |
| Issue | 10 |
| Pages | 1228-1241 |
| Publication date | 2021-10-03 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Deviant Behavior (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0163-9625 • E-ISSN: 1521-0456 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/01639625.2020.1738640 |
| OpenAlex | W3009754479 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 2 |
| References cited | 58 |
In this study, we examine volunteer firefighters' inclination toward a "code of silence". The likelihood of not reporting fellow group members' deviant behavior is increased by group standards such as loyalty, but this comes at the cost of violating the law. A factorial survey was conducted with volunteer firefighters in Germany to test the influence of several factors in determining whether whistleblowing or conforming to a "code of silence" was more likely. The results show that the question of whether a firefighter will disclose a deviant action depends on the severity (e.g. the forcefulness) of the team's or the team member's wrongdoing. External threats turn out to have a significant opposite effect and foster the "code of silence". Our results suggest that the factors that influence volunteer firefighters in this regard are similar to those that previous studies on the code of silence postulate as influencing professional working groups such as the police
Loyalty · Political science · Principle of legality · Silence · Vignette · Wrongdoing · Law · Psychology · Psychology of Moral and Emotional Judgment · Psychology of Social Influence · Social and Intergroup Psychology · Social Psychology
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| Unique citing works | 2 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0.5 |
| Citation span | 2022 - 2022 (1) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 2 |