Exploring coopetition in the lowest level of bureaucracy : competition and cooperation in Indonesian village indexes

Abstract

Coopetition has become more influential in the development of organization theory due to the increasingly complex, dynamic, and interdependent relationships among organizations. This concept is paradoxical because it combines two opposites—competition and cooperation. This study aimed to explained how coopetition is used in public sector organizations, including institutional relations within inter and intra bureaucracy. This descriptive qualitative research employed interactive data analysis, including condensing and displaying collected data from which conclusion are drawn. In addition, triangulation was implemented for improving the validity of the study. This research found a rivalry between two Indonesian ministries that were in charge of village affairs. The Ministry of Home Affairs (MOHA) managed village government affairs, while the Ministry of Village Affairs (MOVA) controlled village development and community empowerment. This rivalry resulted in competition at both the national and village levels. Despite this competition, field administrators at the village level cooperated because government and development responsibilities could not be separated in street-level operations. Coopetition was practiced at the lowest level bureaucracy despite the competition at the highest level because of the interdependence of government and development processes. The practical implication of this study provides an opportunity for the government to design coopetition as a strategy to achieve government or development goals more effectively.