Institutional Isomorphism at BKPSDM of Southwest Papua Province: Formal Conformity Without Substantive Effectiveness in an Affirmation Region

Abstract

The Regional Personnel and Human-Resource Development Agency (BKPSDM) of Southwest Papua Province, as the personnel institution of a newly formed autonomous region under affirmation status, faces a tension between the demand to meet uniform national bureaucratic standards and the need for contextual adaptation. This study analyzes the pressures of institutional isomorphism—coercive, mimetic, and normative—in the design and practice of civil-service HR management. A qualitative single-case-study design was used; data were collected through in-depth interviews, documentation, and observation, then analyzed with the interactive model of Miles, Huberman, and Saldaña using isomorphism as an analytic lens. The findings show that coercive pressure forces the adoption of a uniform institutional typology and design before capacity is available; mimetic pressure drives the copying of modules, procedures, and system governance from other regions without substantive adjustment; and normative pressure turns officials’ educational homogeneity into a uniformity of outlook that narrows the space for contextual approaches. Together they produce formal conformity with national standards but no substantive effectiveness—a symptom of forced decoupling arising from a capacity deficit. The three pressures lock one another and produce a consistent gap between high formal conformity and low effectiveness; in the affirmation context this gap risks widening the very distance it means to close.