In this mini-study, I am examining the issue of compliance participation in one healthcare company. Specifically, I want to determine the factors that drive internal employees to anonymously report instances of fraud, waste and abuse. To do this, I have used a phenomenonological approach and have completed interviews with five participants, the total number in the study.

During the interviews, some participants appeared to be more forthcoming than others, but all the meetings were enlightening. Among the more interesting revelations was that while employees who expressed a positive relationship to their work unit and the company stated a willingness to report wrongdoing (even without the protection of anonymity), information from this study indicated those employees with more ambivalence, who had a more negative impression of their departments, greater mistrust of management, low morale and feelings of “not being able to take it anymore” were more likely to actually use the anonymous hotline. This brings up questions of empowerment vs. powerlessness in how the hotline is used. The issue of power in the workplace is a recurring one.

I would like to triangulate this finding it with previous research. Studies that examine the behavior of employees who express low morale and job security will be useful to this end.