Self-efficacy beliefs determine whether witnesses challenge or passively accept institutional wrongdoing

Evidence

Challenging transgressive powers requires robust belief in one’s own ability to effect change by one’s actions (Bandura, 1997). Those beset by doubts over their causative capabilities respond resignedly to wrongdoing, but those imbued with a strong sense of efficacy are willing to take on the challenge of unmasking institutional practices that do social harm (MacNab & Worthley, 2008). Whistle-blowers often feel liberated by doing the right thing and preserving their self-regard. — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 487

Categorization

• DEEPTHINKING: The striking claim that whistle-blowing is driven less by moral character than by perceived self-efficacy — a causal mechanism that reframes moral courage as a competency belief, worth sitting with.