Voices of integrity: unveiling whistleblowing culture through the lens of Maqasid Shariah

Purpose The study aims to explore the influence of organisational policies in line with the Maqasid Shariah on the cultivation of a whistleblowing culture in the Malaysian workplaces. It fills the void in the literature of whistleblowing by bringing together Islamic ethics and international governance systems, providing a local, religion-based form of ethical whistleblowing. Design/methodology/approach The qualitative case study approach was used, where four different organisations, including two public organisations, one private and one financial institution, were used to gather data using semi-structured interviews and document analysis. Thematic analysis and ground theory were used to highlight the important themes and develop the suggested Shariah-oriented ethics ecosystem of whistleblowing. Findings The study establishes the existence of five thematic dimensions of institutionalisation of the policy, ethical leadership, psychological safety, religious internalisation and policy-practice gaps that inform the culture of whistleblowing in the Islamic organisational settings. Results indicate that introducing Maqasid-oriented principles into organisational policies can greatly improve the level of moral clarity, institutional trust and position the problem of whistleblowing as a legal right and religious obligation. Research limitations/implications The study has a rich contextual background, but due to the qualitative scope of the research, it is not generalisable. The study can be reduced to the selected firms and therefore might not comprehensively represent other industries or multi-faith settings. They must use mixed methods or longitudinal designs in future studies to confirm the results of the study in other industries and other multi-faith settings. Practical implications The findings can be put into practical use by the policymakers, compliance officers and organisational leaders to guide the design of Shariah based integrity systems. The recommendations encompass the incorporation of Maqasid values into the code of ethics, leadership education and reporting systems as well as safeguard to provide dignity and psychological security to whistleblowers. Social implications By assessing whistleblowing in line with the Islamic moral duties, the study promotes Sustainable Development Goal 16 (peace, justice and strong institutions), which encourages the people to trust the government and could engage in anti-corruption activities. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, the study is one of the first attempts to explore the culture of whistleblowing empirically in the Maqasid Shariah perspective. It promotes an interdisciplinary approach that incorporates moral psychology, Islamic jurisprudence and organisational behaviour and helps in the formulation of indigenous governance models that are culturally responsive to people and globally acceptable.