Organizational cover-up of extreme crime: The largest serial murder in German post-war history

Abstract

We assessed the case of the 85-fold serial killer Niels Högel at Oldenburg and Delmenhorst Hospital between the years of 1999 and 2005 in a theory-informed, qualitative study with the objective of gaining a grounded understanding of why organizations cover up severe misconduct of single perpetrators. We screened all publications on the Niels Högel case, set up an elaborate timeline of the events, building an intelligent, taggable database, and conducted narrative interviews with former co-workers of the killer nurse. We identified that both, actual lack of awareness of the crimes due to characteristics of the crime scene and the perpetrator as well as a culture of handling problems internally made it possible for Niels Högel to concealment the killings. Our emerging understanding reveals a series of particularly important enablers of the cover-up: the role of fear of scandal, the intention to save the institution, and the highly embedded Esprit de Corps that demarcates a cohesive, narcissistic, and well-respected action team with a focus on financial goals and according pragmatism. Our findings contribute to the literature on organizational cover-ups by assessing established concepts of previous studies in a new light, raising attention to less explored phenomena relevant to the understanding of organizational cover-up, and expanding the spectrum of case studies analyzing organizational cover-up through a study setting in a regular institution.