What Motivates Whistleblowers To Reveal Wrongdoing?

Recently I began an informal survey of some of my present and former whistleblower clients to see if I can decipher some patterns in what motivates people to become whistleblowers when they learn of fraud or purposeful financial mismanagement. Interestingly, I found that some similarities are found in the profession of the individuals. For example, I represent many engineer whistleblowers who said that their interest was in maintaining integrity and professionalism in their field and because of the dangers to human life and safety where corners are cut. Similar responses were given by my doctor whistleblower clients. Those in financial management positions within corporations seemed to be concerned about their own risks if a governmental investigation were to occur concerning the wrongdoing of which they were aware. Repeatedly, even where clients were not engaged in the wrongdoing, they feared that because they had knowledge of the wrongdoing, they might be perceived to be part of it and so in order to maintain their own reputations, they decided to come forward to reveal it. Finally, I noticed a new pattern of business owners who are aware of fraud or illegalities on the part of their competitor and they became whistleblowers because of the gross inequities of this fact. The last phenomina is fairly new, I think but a trend nonetheless. I am probing further on this issue, as it is interesting to me and down the line, I intend on asking my clients (confidentially) whether the results obtained met the goals they had in the earliest stages of retaining me as their counsel. Stay tuned