Whistleblowing as a Career Crisis: Recovering from Retaliatory Job Loss through a Process of Bifurcation
研究了举报人因报复性失业后的职业路径，基于11位法国举报人的职业叙事，揭示了分叉过程的六个阶段及其在情绪、孤立、声誉和信任方面的特殊性。
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.