Autistic employees as whistleblowers: are employers ignoring potentially valuable assets?

Historically, researchers have examined the personality characteristics associated with whistleblowers and whistleblowing. Evidence has been conflicting to date so providing a conclusive answer is difficult. However, a more specific question raised recently is whether workers with diagnoses of Autism Spectrum Conditions (ASC) might be particularly valuable to organisations that are keen to ensure transparency, accountability and good governance. Having defined what we mean by ASC and whistleblowing, this article discusses some of the traits associated with ASC and attempts to explore how they might be used positively in the raising of concerns about wrongdoing. The authors focus on aspects of neurodiversity that might affect whistleblowing and hypothesise that hiring people with ASC can bring tangible economic and other benefits to an organisation. We conclude by calling for empirical research to be conducted in order to test some of the arguments presented.