TITLE:
Organizational Culture as an Institutional Mechanism Shaping Merit-Based Recruitment of Senior Public Officials in South Sudan
AUTHORS:
Kuot Kerubino Chuor
KEYWORDS:
Organizational Culture, Merit-Based Recruitment, Institutional Mechanisms, Neo-Patrimonialism, Fragile States, Public Administration
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Business and Management,
Vol.14 No.5,
September
2,
2026
ABSTRACT: Purpose: The purpose of this article is to examine how organizational culture influences recruitment outcomes in public sector institutions, particularly in fragile and post-conflict contexts where formal merit-based recruitment rules coexist with informal practices such as political patronage, ethnic balancing, and loyalty-based appointments. Design/Methodology/Approach: The article used a PRISMA-guided systematic literature review of theoretical and empirical scholarship on merit-based recruitment, organizational culture, and informal institutions, from which a mechanism-based conceptual framework is developed. South Sudan is used as an analytically anchored case rather than a site of primary data collection: governance assessments, civil service policy documents, and peer-reviewed studies relevant to South Sudan are read through the framework to explain how leadership norms, informal recruitment practices, and shared assumptions about merit shape recruitment outcomes through processes of institutional legitimacy and rule interpretation. Findings: The review indicates that organizational culture functions as an institutional mechanism that mediates the implementation of formal recruitment rules. While many fragile states formally adopt merit-based recruitment reforms, the reviewed literature suggests that the persistence of informal norms and patronage networks often shapes how these rules are interpreted and enforced in practice. As a result, formal convergence around meritocratic frameworks does not necessarily translate into convergence in recruitment outcomes. Practical Implications: The findings suggest that rule-centric public sector reforms alone are insufficient to ensure merit-based recruitment. Reform strategies must address underlying cultural norms, leadership practices, and informal institutional arrangements that influence recruitment decisions in public organizations. Originality/Value: This study contributes to the literature by moving beyond descriptive accounts of recruitment reform failure to specify the cultural and institutional mechanisms through which macro-level reforms translate into micro-level recruitment decisions. The proposed framework is empirically testable and transferable to other fragile and post-conflict governance contexts.