Safety Builds Courage: Psychological Safety, Moral Courage, and Whistleblowing

Organizations increasingly rely on psychological safety to encourage whistleblowing, yet employees often remain silent even in supportive and psychologically safe environments. Drawing on social cognitive theory, this study advances a capability-building perspective by proposing that psychological safety promotes whistleblowing through the development of moral courage—a self-regulatory capacity to act on ethical standards despite anticipated personal costs. We further argue that organizational identification shapes whether this moral capability is translated into constructive internal reporting. We develop and test a moderated mediation model in which psychological safety enhances moral courage, moral courage increases whistleblowing intentions, and organizational identification strengthens the enactment of moral courage through internal reporting. Using multi-wave field survey data, we find support for the proposed indirect effect of psychological safety on whistleblowing via moral courage and for the moderating role of organizational identification. Overall, the findings suggest that psychological safety facilitates ethical reporting not only by reducing fear, but by strengthening ethical self-regulation and aligning motivational attachment, offering a social cognitive explanation of when and how supportive climates translate into whistleblowing. Using social cognitive theory, this paper provides a scientific explanation of why attempts by organizations to encourage ethical reporting usually fail and capability building as an effective lever to lessen ethical silence.