Norsk Tipping’s loneliest stakeholder: Crisis, issues and the whistleblower’s voice

Abstract

In the last six decades, there has been a growing and diverse body of research on crises; however, the voice that is often forgotten in this body of research is that of the whistleblower. In part, this can be attributed to the primary focus of crisis communication research has focused on the organizational perspective – that is how an organization can best respond to a crisis in order to manage stakeholder perceptions of the crisis as well as the organization. However, in the Norsk Tipping case, we have the opportunity to explore whistleblowing as a crisis from the whistleblower’s perspective. This rarely explored perspective affords us the opportunity to better understand the complexities of organizational politics, conflicts between personal and professional values, and challenges us to ask what it really means to be socially responsible in a modern organizational environment. The chapter uses the stakeholder relationship management model to explore the interactions between the whistleblower, organizations, and the issues connected to the crisis. Through this exploration, we discover that an organization’s well-being is based on its ability to manage many voices, interests, and its obligations.