From Paralysis to Publicization: How Victims Experience and Confront Organizational Harm

Organizations frequently inflict harm on individuals, and yet it remains unclear why that harm often takes years to come to light, and sometimes never becomes public knowledge. While prior researchers have looked extensively at the role of external audiences in the process of the publicization of organizational harm and wrongdoing, a key actor that has been overlooked is the victims themselves. Using extensive historical archival data and interviews with victims, we examine how victims experience and confront harm through the case of the UK Post Office Horizon Scandal. In this case, over 700 post office branch managers, called sub-postmasters, were accused of stealing and false accounting. This scandal took years to come to light, and the accusations and convictions persisted for over 14 years. Our findings reveal four cycles of paralysis that discouraged victims from speaking out about this case and go on to show how they were able to break their silence and overcome their paralysis. Overall, our paper provides valuable insights into the role victims can play in publicizing organizational harm, but also, importantly, what barriers they face in doing so and therefore extends the literature by providing an explanation of why instances of organizational harm and wrongdoing may take years to surface.