Goal:

This database helps researchers understand the existing published work that substantively contributes to research on institutional betrayal and/or institutional courage. We aim to spark new ideas in existing research areas and encourage studies in unexplored fields.

Our Process:

History:  We published the initial version of our “Tracking Research” page in August 2023.  This is now our first update, published in April 2024.

Inclusion Criteria: Our list comprises peer-reviewed articles or other published studies, books, chapters, news pieces, dissertations, theses, and when feasible, abstracts from conferences or academic posters. In each work, institutional betrayal or institutional courage are either a variable, finding, focus, or are thematically important.

Search Timeframe and Approach: Our initial search spanned from April to July 2023. We used the search string [“institutional betrayal” OR “institutional courage”] in the following databases: Google Scholar, Psych Info, Academic Search Complete, Anthropology Plus, Communication and Mass Media Complete, Educational Administration Abstracts, Health Source, Legal Collection, MEDLINE, Military and Government Collection, Newswires, Newspaper Source Plus, Education Research Complete, and archives of dissertations supervised by Dr. Freyd. Following an influx of works published after this timeframe, we changed our search strategy and have since been searching Google Scholar and Psych Info on a bi-monthly basis to categorize recently published work. The last date a search was conducted was on 3/28/2024.

Analysis: Data were gathered from publication abstracts, results, participant, and discussion sections as available and appropriate. They include the category of the institution and the context of harm; the broad method type; a summary of the method and variables; a summary of participant characteristics; a summary of results or thematic overview; the publication type; and a full citation.

Notable Trends as of April 2024:

• Sexual assault in education settings continues to be the most studied area, but work is increasing in other areas, particularly in Military and Healthcare contexts. Sexual assault in the military and medical-related institutional betrayal/courage in healthcare settings are currently tied as the next-most studied areas.

• Law enforcement, churches, and judiciary are three institutional contexts which still have a relative dearth of associated research.

• 41 studies so far cataloged have examined either IB or IC in more than one context of harm, and 27 have done so in more than one institutional context. We thus have a “more than one” category for articles which means that those articles are not listed in the other categories.  For instance, if moral injury is studied alongside sexual violence in a military context, we are not tracking this as part of either of these contexts of harm, rather as a “more than one.” We write these details in, however, so they are not lost. You may filter for “more than one” under either context (harm or institution) to see what we have written.

Next Steps:

This database is an evolving document and will be updated regularly. It may not reflect a complete state of existing literature as applicable literature on institutional betrayal and institutional courage is published at an increasingly rapid pace, so we welcome suggestions on valid and important works to include. For questions, suggestions, or feedback, please contact us at team@institutionalcourage.org