Even with the creation of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act a few years ago, which was introduced to counter unethical corporate behavior and opened the door for workers to report it, some employees are still resistant to the idea of blowing the whistle on a company or their boss.

"It would appear that some workers fear losing their jobs, or being ostracized in the workplace if they blow the whistle and our survey data shows that some choose to stay silent if they witness unethical activities at work," said Richard Lamond, senior vice president and chief HR officer of Spherion.

Lamond said the latest data suggests that there is still a perceived stigma attached to being a whistle blower. However, more companies are putting policies in place to protect workers who report unethical behavior, which includes hotlines where workers can expose any unethical behavior they have observed, anonymously.

"Hopefully these new actions will encourage more workers to alert officials at their companies to wrongdoings in the years to come," he said.

Interestingly, 40 percent of women said they are likely to report unethical activities compared to 53 percent of men, and 28 percent of women said they are unlikely to blow the whistle compared to 18 percent of men.