CULTURALLY EMBEDDED SOCIAL EXCHANGE IN THE OPEN SELECTION OF BUREAUCRATIC OFFICIALS: A THEORETICAL SYNTHESIS OF THE CULTURALLY CONTEXTUALIZED SOCIAL EXCHANGE MODEL
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.18623/rvd.v23.6721Keywords:
Social Exchange, Bureaucratic Patronage, Merit System, Organizational Culture, Riau, Das Sollen–Das SeinAbstract
The open selection of Senior Civil Service positions (JPT Pratama) in Indonesian local government presents a structural paradox: formal merit procedures are scrupulously observed on the surface while substantive appointment decisions systematically deviate from meritocratic principles. In Riau Province's 2020 mass selection of 24 JPT Pratama positions, 54.2% of appointments went to 2nd- or 3rd-ranked candidates rather than the highest scorer—an 18.4-point average assessment gap. This article constructs a Culturally Contextualized Social Exchange Model (CCSEM) drawing on Homans (1961), Blau (1964), Emerson (1976), Molm (2003), Ekeh's Two Publics theory (1974), and Riau Malay cultural values (Effendy, 2013). The model identifies three simultaneous exchange layers: an administrative layer (formal legitimacy scaffolding), a substantive layer (political loyalty as appointment currency in the governor's discretionary space), and a cultural legitimation layer in which authentic Malay values of Berbalas Budi, Amanah, and Marwah are systematically renarrated as moral cover (Selubung Moral) for patronage. The CCSEM advances the argument that local culture functions as moral adhesive sustaining a hybrid bureaucratic equilibrium—not as a failure of reform, but as a self-reproducing institutional arrangement. Implications for bureaucratic reform and socio-cultural governance theory are discussed.
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