Whistleblowing in the Mining Sector: In the Tension Field of Individual Decision-Making, Organizational Loyalty, and Societal Transparency

by Verena Rauen and Sören E. Schuster

Last updated: 2025/03/01

Whistleblowing occupies a central position in the tension field between individual decision-making factors, professional loyalty, and societal transparency. The decision to blow the whistle is often made in an ethically dilemmatic situation: individuals who report wrongdoing frequently find themselves caught between their duties of loyalty toward the organization and the public interest in rectifying misconduct. At the same time, whistleblowers expose themselves to substantial risks of legal, social, and economic reprisals (Herold, 2022, p. 121-122; Boles et. al., 2025).

Whistleblowing fundamentally refers to the disclosure of wrongdoing (see Near/Miceli 1985; Jubb 1999: 79) by persons who belong to an organization or who have obtained insider information through other means, such as customers, suppliers, or consultants. The central challenge lies in transforming an individual decision – typically made in secrecy – into a systematic instrument for uncovering misconduct (cf. Herold & Kölbel, 2015, p. 376-377).

The decision to file a report is often the result of a reflective process during which the whistleblower weighs the pros and cons of reporting (Miceli/Near 1985). In this decision-making process, personal motives interact strongly with the organizational context. Relevant factors include the existence of a reliable whistleblowing system that also allows anonymous reporting, as well as a whistleblowing culture (Bussmann, 2024, p. 202 ff.; 2022, p. 376 ff.) that conveys trust in protection from reprisals, in the efficiency of case handling and potential investigation of the reported matter, and in a constructive approach to critical loyalty (Fotaki et al., 2019, p. 31).

Particularly in the mining sector, a field historically associated with severe environmental, human rights and safety risks (see chapter on human rights and ecology), the existence of solid whistleblowing systems and adequate staff training constitutes a significant safety factor. Whistleblowing provides an early warning mechanism for such risks and serves as a corrective to opacity, corruption, and structural power imbalances. It thereby contributes to reflexivity, organizational development, and democratic accountability within mining operations.