Goal:

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

Our Process:

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.

History:  We published the initial version of our “Tracking Research” page in August 2023.  Our first update was published in April 2024. This is now our second update published in March 2025 and it covers articles through December 2024.

Search Time-frame and Approach: Our original 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 time-frame, we changed our search strategy and have begun to do Google Scholar and Psych Info searches on a bi-monthly basis and categorize recently published work that is aligned with our more stringent inclusion criteria. Our most recent update includes work found in a search that focused up until December 2024, although note that not all articles may have been entered from that search.

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; whether or not institutional betrayal or institutional courage are the focus; 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. We also added a section to delineate whether publications or presentations were funded by Courage.

Notable Trends as of March 2025 (for articles through December 2024):

●      308 articles are entered into this current update.

●      Education continues to be the most studied institutional context per this update (at 118, with 57 articles related to sexual violence), but work is increasing in other institutional contexts, particularly in Military (32) and Healthcare (48) contexts.

●      Research is growing that focuses on racial, gender, and other forms of discrimination, especially in educational contexts. For example, as of this update, there are 23 logged articles with a focus on racial discrimination, 13 on gender discrimination, and 7 on other forms of discrimination.

●      Research is also growing that centers intimate partner violence, with 11 articles tracked so far.

●      59 studies so far cataloged have examined more than one context of harm, and 15 have done so in more than one institutional context. To view a description of these contexts, filter for these in the “Study Details” tab.

●      Law enforcement, governmental, religious, corporate, and judiciary are all  institutional contexts which still have a relative dearth of research related to  institutional betrayal/ courage. Similarly, there is very little research on institutional betrayal or courage that relate to contexts of harm such as bullying, physical assault, or financial fraud, among others.

●      Overall, there are ample opportunities for significant contributions to the literature on institutional betrayal and courage, as are easy to see in the “Database at a Glance” tab.

Next Steps:

This database is an evolving document and will be updated biannually or more. 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.