Comparative case study uncovers how human resource voids drive bureaucratic adaptation in local governments, highlighting the impact of administrative support configurations.
Key Points
To examine how local bureaucrats enact functionalization reforms when structural changes outpace the development of supporting human resource tools and infrastructures.
Conducted a comparative qualitative case study across four Indonesian local government jurisdictions.
Evaluated bureaucratic responses to human resource instrument voids alongside variations in fiscal capacity, administrative support, and reform facilitation.
Absence of human resource instruments creates operational ambiguity, triggering collective sensemaking and adaptive coordination among frontline bureaucrats.
Organizational configurations of fiscal capacity, administrative support, and reform facilitation—rather than fiscal wealth alone—dictate whether jurisdictions achieve partial role formalization or revert to hierarchical coordination.