Organizational bystanding: whistleblowing, watching the works go by or aiding and abetting?

Abstract

The psychology of bystanding has a long history of research, and although some of this has been considered with regard to the role of bystanders in bullying in schools and the health and social sectors, it has not been extended to organizations more generally. There is thus a dearth of theoretical development on what makes organizational bystanding different, and of course there is also a lack in the corresponding research base. This paper integrates work in social and moral philosophy with that in psychology, education and human resource management to develop typologies of responsibility, and of bystanding in general, and presents some core principles for the further development of work on specifically organizational bystanding.