Institutional corruption and the architecture of divergence: purpose–outcome misalignment in a Haitian regional public university

Drawing on Oliveira's purpose-outcome divergence framework and institutional corruption theory, this study examines the Université Publique du Centre (UPC) as an explanatory case to investigate how governance arrangements and organizational practices contribute to the emergence and persistence of institutional corruption within Haiti's regional public university system. The methodology relies on multi-source evidence collected over several years, encompassing legal and policy documents, university records, internal correspondence, audit requests, digital media, photographic evidence, interviews, informal discussions, and direct observations. The analysis reveals a persistent divergence between UPC's stated purposes and its actual outcomes across academic infrastructure, human resources, administrative services, information management, transparency, recruitment, academic integrity, participation, and accountability. This divergence is sustained by concentrated appointment authority, limited stakeholder participation, information asymmetries, weak oversight, delayed regulatory responses, and the normalization of unethical behaviors. Furthermore, the case demonstrates how macro-level political dependencies and micro-level organizational adaptations reinforce institutional dysfunction, weakening the university's capacity to fulfill its missions. To address these systemic vulnerabilities, this study proposes an Integrated Institutional Integrity Framework built on five mutually reinforcing pillars—transparency, participation, accountability, meritocracy, and independent oversight—offering a governance-oriented approach to mitigate purpose-outcome divergence and strengthen institutional capacity in fragile higher education environments.