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SJRP Report on

Major Jack J. Wells and Vietnam: A Case Study of the Prosocial Organizational Behavior (POB) Model of Whistle-Blowing

Submitted by

James B. Wells, Ph.D.Professor of Criminal Justice & Police Studies

School of Justice StudiesCollege of Justice & Safety

Eastern Kentucky University

September 24, 2015

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Statement of the Problem

Introduction

Today, “whistle-blowers are in the news these days, held up as role models” that “risk

everything to expose corruption, greed and illegal activity” (Devine & Maassarani, 2011, p. 18). For over

25 years researchers have regarded whistle-blowing as a prosocial behavior that is intended to benefit

other persons (Staub, 1978). However, a review of the scholarly literature on whistle-blowing as a

prosocial behavior indicates that most of the published research is dominated by the fields of business,

accounting, management, industry, human resources, medicine, nursing, and education. The number of

studies on whistle-blowing as a prosocial behavior found in the criminology and criminal justice

literature are small in comparison to the number of studies found in the above-mentioned fields. In fact,

what few studies that have been done on prosocial behavior have focused on studying the

organizational citizenship behavior of correctional staff (Lambert, 2010; Lambert, Hogan, & Griffin, 2008;

E.G. Lambert, personal communication, August 11, 2014). Furthermore, a review of the literature has

not identified any studies that examined whistle-blowing as a prosocial behavior in regard to overseas

policing and public safety activities conducted by the US military and the US State Department.

Why is that? One possible explanation might be that since professions in the military, fire,

police, and foreign service are closed, self-governing systems (Beigel, 1977; Mosher, 1982) that typically

develop an esprit de corps, loyalty, and a desire to protect the team (Rothwell & Baldwin, 2007;

Huberts, Lamboo, & Punch, 2003; Scolnick, 2002), breaking silence is infrequent since it challenges long

standing traditions and threatens the brotherhood (Chin & Wells, 1998). To illustrate, Johnson (2005)

argues that since whistle-blowing is not that common in police organizations, it ironically makes it more

necessary.

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Background

This case study, which is a work in progress, is based on the 400 plus letters my father, Major

Jack J. Wells, wrote over his 21 year career in the U.S. Army Military Police Corps, and later, in the U.S.

State Department’s Agency for International Development Office of Public Safety. Much of the research

for this case study concentrates on the letters he wrote over his career, first as a US Army infantryman

and military policeman in the 1940s – 1950s, second as a US Army military advisor and counter-

insurgency specialist in 1962-1963, and later as a civilian public safety advisor for the US Agency for

International Development in 1965. In the letters from Vietnam in the 1960s, Wells expresses

frustrations in reporting the malfeasance (e.g., graft, cowardice, war crimes, etc.) he uncovers and

describes how his criticisms of US and South Vietnamese officials advance to the point that his superiors

initiate efforts to suppress his reports and “quiet” him. In addition to exposing US and South Vietnamese

collusion in corruption from first the provincial level, and later the national level, the letters describe

Wells’ transition from efforts aimed at eliminating the National Liberation Front (NLF) in the provinces

under his command, to his hopes that the NLF is supporting his efforts to help the Vietnamese people.

Preliminary and partial content analyses of the letters support the prosocial organizational behavior

(POB) model of whistle-blowing. Also considered is progress in documenting Wells’ claims, as well as

evidence supporting/refuting theories about the circumstances that led to his death.

The Prosocial Organizational Behavior Model of Whistle-Blowing

Although there is no clear cut definition of prosocial organizational behavior (POB) in the

literature (Hazzi & Maldaon, 2012), Brief and Motowidlo (1986) gave it a practical and comprehensive

definition when they suggested that it “…is behavior which is a) performed by a member of an

organization, b) directed toward an individual, group or organization with whom he or she interacts

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while carrying out his or her organizational role, and c) performed with the intention of promoting the

welfare of the individual, group or organization toward which it is directed” (p. 711).

The POB model proposes that whenever controversial activity occurs, organizational members

experience up to three phases of decision-making or affective reactions (Miceli, Near, Dworkin, 2008).

Variables and processes that affect these phases will determine whether whistle-blowing is likely to

occur. Using the most widely used definition in empirical research (King, 1997), whistle blowing is

defined as “the disclosure by organization members (former or current) of illegal, immoral, or

illegitimate practices under the control of their employers, to persons or organizations that may be able

to effect action” (Near & Miceli, 1985. p. 4).

What I hope to accomplish with this research is to illustrate how my father’s letters contain

evidence to support all three phases of the prosocial organizational behavior model of whistle-blowing.

Given that prosocial organizational behavior is a function of many different variables (Penner, Dovidio,

Piliavin, & Schroeder, 2005), and that there are multiple individual (e.g., age, tenure, gender,

educational level, mood, personality, etc.) as well as contextual antecedents (Brief & Motowidlo, 1986), I

already have preliminary evidence that letters, as far back as 1944, will contain evidence that support

the POB model. Given that there are no known individual case studies that compare themselves to the

POB model (T. Dworkin, personal communication, January 27, 2014), I anticipate that this study about

whistle-blowing will make a significant contribution to both the whistle-blowing and criminological

literature.

Support for the POB Model

As described by Miceli et al. (2008), in Phase 1 organizational members assess whether or not

the focal activity was wrongful. If the organizational member believes no wrongdoing occurred, then

there is no need to report anything, and therefore the whistle-blowing process ends. If the

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organizational member believes wrongdoing has occurred, the next decision is whether someone has a

responsibility to act to stop it.

If the organizational member believes the organization is in the process of correcting it or that

someone has reported it, including the member, then the process ends because there is nothing to

report. However, if the wrongdoing is perceived to be unreported or uncorrected, the process continues

to the next phase.

In Phase 2, after observing that the wrongdoing has not been reported or corrected, two

processes can occur. The wrongdoing may signal to members that the organization is unresponsive, in

that it would not correct the wrongdoing if they reported it, because the existence of the wrongdoing

implies that the organization tolerates bad behavior. On the other hand if observers believe the

wrongdoing is continuing despite authorities awareness of it, they will become demoralized. Whereas

organizational unresponsiveness and demoralization may discourage many members from taking action,

other variables, such as members with proactive personalities, may encourage their reporting.

In Phase 3, observers of wrongdoing must decide if it is their responsibility to act and whether

any action is available to them. If they feel they are responsible and that potentially effective actions are

available, they weight the expected costs of blowing the whistle, such as retaliation, and the likelihood

that the reporting will actually stop the wrongdoing. Observers of wrongdoing that have proactive

personalities (Bateman & Crant, 1993; Langer, 1983) may be more inclined than other observers of the

same wrong doing to report it.

Given that “it is often difficult to conduct a work which includes all of the related aspects of

prosocial organizational behaviors in one work” (Hazzi & Maldaon, 2012), I believe this case study will

make a significant contribution to the whistle-blowing literature because of its detailed illustrations in

fully explaining and supporting the POB model. I suspect that in these letters I will find multiple

antecedents that support the model and explain his whistle-blowing behavior.

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Objective of SJRP Proposal

The primary rationale for my SJRP proposal submission pertained to the vast number and

condition of the letters I have in my possession. The 400 plus letters are 49 to 70 years old. The letters

begin with one written from an 18 year-old teenage boy prior to going to army basic training in 1944,

and end with a letter written from a 39 year U.S. State Department Public Safety Advisor the day before

he is killed in September, 1965. Many of the letters are in a state of decay. I suspect most all of the

letters were written on inexpensive paper containing acid and other pollutants. Many of the earlier

letters from WWII and Korea were written in pencil, which has begun to fade and disappear. Many of

the latter letters were written on both sides of the paper with a fountain pen, so that after almost 50

years, the ink has bled through both sides of the paper, making it very difficult to read and interpret

their contents. In several letters, humidity and mildew are taking a toll, making the letters fragile as well

as very difficult to read. Below in Figure 1 is an example of a letter that exhibits all of the above-

mentioned symptoms of age.

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Figure 1 – Sample Letter Exhibiting Symptoms of Age

Methodology

Several staff from the EKU Special Collections & Archives provided assistance throughout the

project. They made recommendations and provided training on handling, arranging, describing,

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preserving, and scanning my materials, as well as advising on databases and ways to manage the digital

content.

A School of Justice studies graduate student funded by the SJRP award assisted me in

interpreting, transcribing, and scanning the original letters into a database that links both the typed and

scanned letters. This was quite a task given the number and state of the letters. Due to age, mildew,

mold, and my father’s fountain pen bleeding through both sides of the acidic paper he wrote on, many

of the letters he wrote had to be interpreted word by word, letter by letter, using a magnifier and a

scanner to highlight and clarify the text.

In addition, my graduate student and I reviewed, selected, organized, and scanned other types

of documents (e.g., photos, video, personnel records from the U.S. Army & U.S. State Department, etc.).

All of the typed and scanned documents were then uploaded into Omeka.net, a web-publishing platform

and archivist database that allow anyone to create and collaborate on digital projects and collections.

My ultimate goal is to eventually make all of the letters publically available for other researchers to

study. Below in Figure 2 is an example of what users may see when they first access the web site.

Figure 2 – Omeka.net Website Featuring Letters from Major Jack J. Wells

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Users will be able to go to the top and click on “Browse Collections” (second item in the light

brown bar), which will then show all four major collections of data. Two of the four collections are

shown below in Figure 3.

Figure 3 – Collections of Letter (only two of the four are shown)

Users can then select a collection where they will be presented with links to every single item

held within that collection. Figure 4 below illustrates what users will see on the first screen of the

Vietnam collection.

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Figure 4 – Vietnam Collection (first screen)

Users can then choose a particular item, such as this letter below in Figure 5.

Figure 5 – Letter from Jack Wells to Betty (8/18/1965)

Users will then be provided with digitally scanned images of the physical letters themselves, plus

a listing of all the Dublin Core Standards for that item, including a fully typed transcript of the letter itself

(see Figures 6 – 7).

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Figure 6 – Screen 1 Listing Dublin Core Standards for 8/18/1965 Letter

Figure 7 – Screen 2 Listing Dublin Core Standards for 8/18/1965 Letter

Using these standards, researchers can search for specific letters, words, even date ranges.

Results to Date

Once the database was complete, the first and second of an ongoing series of multiple content

analyses were conducted. The initial content analysis focused on doing an exhaustive search of themes

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that the published literature had already identified to support the POB model of whistle-blowing. The

second content analysis focused on identifying any non-POB literature relevant themes. The table below

summarizes the themes that have currently been identified.

Table 1a – Theme Frequencies and Percentages

POB Literature Relevant Themes f %

ALTRUISTIC DISPOSITION 14 1.73%

PROSOCIAL BEHAVIOR 19 2.35%

RELIGION 146 18.02%

PERFECTIONISM 16 1.98%

PROACTIVE PERSONALITY-PERSONAL 39 4.81%

PROACTIVE PERSONALITY-PROFESSIONAL 28 3.46%

NEGATIVE AFFECTIVITY-SELF 110 13.58%

NEGATIVE AFFECTIVITY-OTHERS 90 11.11%

WHISTLEBLOWING 9 1.11%

MORAL JUDGMENT 21 2.59%

STANDARDS OF JUSTICE 21 2.59%

SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY 6 0.74%

MORAL REASONING 7 0.86%

EMPATHY 17 2.10%

SELF RIGHTEOUSNESS 11 1.36%

LOW MACHIAVELLIAN 4 0.49%

PUBLIC VALUES 44 5.43%

PERSONAL COMMITMENT 41 5.06%

HUMAN EMOTION MOTIVES 31 3.83%

HIGH STANDARDS 58 7.16%

SELF EFFICACY 22 2.72%

LACK OF SUPERVISOR SUPPORT 3 0.37%

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TRUST IN SUPERVISOR 3 0.37%

LACK OF INFORMAL POLICIES 0 0.00%

IDEAL VALUES 0 0.00%

MISSION VALENCE 16 1.98%

LACK OF JOB SATISFACTION 19 2.35%

RETALIATION 9 1.11%

ORGANIZATIONAL ENVIRONMENT DOES NOT ENCOURAGE WB 5 0.62%

DIFFUSION OF RESPONSIBILITY 0 0.00%

RESPECT & OPENNESS 1 0.12%

COOPERATIVENESS & FLEXIBILITY 0 0.00%

FAIR TREATMENT 0 0.00%

POB Literature Relevant Totals: 810 100.00%

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Table 1b – Theme Frequencies and Percentages

Non-POB Literature Relevant Themes f %

SENSATION SEEKER 11 3.10%

IMPATIENT-RESTLESSLY EAGER 64 18.03%

IMPATIENT-QUICKLY IRRITATED 11 3.10%

NOT FEARFUL OF UPSETTING OTHERS 17 4.79%

MORTALITY AWARENESS 26 7.32%

SELF AWARE OF CHANGE 16 4.51%

SELF COMPELLED DISCLOSURE 15 4.23%

LONER 4 1.13%

POSSESSIVE 39 10.99%

INTERNAL CONFLICT 26 7.32%

ROLE REVERSAL 2 0.56%

ALCOHOL 46 12.96%

SYMPTOMS OF NERVOUSNESS 7 1.97%

HOMESICK 34 9.58%

WRITING RELIEVES ANXIETY 1 0.28%

DEPENDENCE ON BETTY 5 1.41%

SELF REGRET 12 3.38%

NO SELF PITY 4 1.13%

TIRED 13 3.66%

ORGANIZATION WANTING HIM TO SLOW DOWN 2 0.56%

Non-POB Literature Relevant Totals: 355 100.00%

To illustrate, the published POB literature has identified that individuals that have an “altruistic

disposition” are more likely to blow the whistle (Kesselheim, Studdert, & Mello, 2010). Evidence of Jack

Wells having an altruistic disposition in the letters he wrote was identified 14 times or 1.73 % of the 810

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coded POB relevant themes. An example of his altruistic disposition follows in which he explains to his

wife why he must go to Vietnam a second time:

“Life is really not much unless you are doing for someone else” (excerpt from letter dated May 30, 1965).

An example of a non-POB relevant theme that emerged is “sensation seeker.” Evidence of Jack

Wells enjoying the thrill of a dangerous situation was identified 11 times or 3.10 % of the 355 coded

non-POB relevant themes. An illustration of him being a sensation seeker follows in which he, as a 21

year-old Provost Sergeant in charge of a stockade in post World War II Nuremberg, Germany, turns in

two of his men (both of them personal friends) for selling contraband to the prisoners under his control:

I caught too men that were working for me selling prisoner cigeruts for $10.00 a carton. Well I watched them count them. now they are getting a general Court Marshal an will probly get 20 years, it is a bad job you are a hated and hunted man, but you could never guess how interesting it is it is some sort of thrill you don’t have to worrie, as if you would. But I carry a pistol to bed with me (excerpt from letter dated March 15, 1948).

Other content analyses not yet conducted will focus on identifying other themes, such as the

situational characteristics pertaining to the wrongdoing, as well as the organizational context in which it

occurs.

Anticipated Byproducts of SJRP Award

I anticipate that there will be multiple research-related byproducts that will come out of this

award. One byproduct will focus on providing educational opportunities for students. These

opportunities will include those that focus on our own Justice & Safety students as well as those from

other colleges across our campus and other campuses.

To date, I have already been invited four times over two years (i.e., 2013 & 2015) to be a guest

lecturer in EKU Professor Dr. Tom Appleton’s HIS 204W Pivotal Points in US History Class (CRN 14418 &

13160), and HIS 203 American Civilization Since 1877 Class (CRN 27205 & 27849). In all four of these

classes I discussed my father’s whistle-blowing actions in Vietnam. As a result of my ongoing research

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with this case study I anticipate being a guest lecturer in not only history classes where the Vietnam War

is taught but in any classes where ethics is part of the curriculum.

To illustrate, I am also scheduled on November 17, 2015, to conduct a whistle-blowing

presentation for an EKU class taught by LTC Darrell Robinson, Professor of Military Science with EKU’s

ROTC program. He recently expressed an interest in me addressing one of his military science classes the

week he is covering the Vietnam War.

I have also met and spoke with two notable Vietnam War scholars, George Herring, Alumni

Professor of History Emeritus at the University of Kentucky (UK), and Lien-Hang T. Nguyen, Professor of

History at UK. Both have expressed an interest in my project and have invited me to address classes at

UK.

I am already scheduled to present at the 2015 American Society of Criminology (ASC)

conference on what personal variables may affect whistle-blowing. I anticipate that at the 2016 ASC

conference I will be prepared to speak on how evidence in the letters and elsewhere can be used to

explain the POB model of retaliation.

In addition to multiple conference presentations that focus on whistle-blowing, I anticipate at

least one academic monograph and one creative non-fiction book on this topic. I have already had

preliminary conversations about these two works with an editorial representative from University of

California Press.

Given I also have hundreds of photographs and hours of digitized video and audio covering over

20 years, I am also anticipating a blog that will keep interested parties involved in my research. I already

have a Facebook page called “Postmarked Angels & Demons” devoted to my research.

I have developed some proficiency in using music videos to develop interest in a topic. With the

help of my graduate research assistant in 2014-2015, I developed a trailer for my ASC 2014 presentation.

The trailer contains images of the different phases of the POB theoretical model as well as images of my

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father’s handwritten and typed letters. Photographs he had taken from Vietnam as well as video footage

from the war were included. All were presented to the tune as well as lyrics of the Rolling Stones song

“Paint it Black.” The video was well received from members of the academic community that viewed it. I

plan to create another trailer for my blog including recently discovered photographs as well as video I

recently digitized from my father’s 8mm film. The 8mm film is from the 1940s through the early 1960s.

The film from the 1960s includes footage taken from Vietnam.

I am also interested at some future point in time in taking a playwriting and screenwriting

course at EKU. I believe the subject matter from the letters and my whistle-blowing research could be

successfully applied to these outlet mediums.

I am also planning on devoting my sabbatical to this project. I have learned that at the National

Personnel Records Center in College Park Maryland, there are 119 bins of documents that pertain to the

U.S. State Department Agency for International Development’s Public Safety Advisor Program in

Vietnam. I anticipate spending at least a few weeks there reviewing these documents and looking for

those that pertain to my father’s activities. In addition, I have also learned that there are archives in Ho

Chi Minh City, Vietnam that may contain evidence that pertain to my father’s activities. As well, given I

have identified what addresses in Vietnam my father lived and worked at, I anticipate I would like to visit

those as well. I have already made tentative arrangements with former EKU Vietnamese students to

assist me in my research and travels in Vietnam.

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References

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Chin, G.J., & Wells, S.C. (1998). The blue wall of silence and motive to lie: A new approach to police

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