Merit system implementation and employee performance in Pekanbaru city government

Bureaucratic reform in Indonesia positions the merit system as a key mechanism for strengthening professionalism, fairness, and performance in civil service management. However, implementation at the local level remains uneven because formal rules interact with leadership practices, employee understanding, digital capacity, organizational culture, and political dynamics. This study examines the determinants of merit system implementation and its mediating role in the relationship between organizational-political factors and employee performance in the Pekanbaru City Government. Drawing on institutional theory, the merit system is conceptualized as a governance mechanism that translates formal rules into personnel practices. A quantitative explanatory design was used with survey data from 100 civil servants selected through proportional random sampling. The data were analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling-Partial Least Squares. The findings show that leadership, employee understanding, and political factors significantly influence merit system implementation, whereas information and communication technology and organizational culture do not. Merit system implementation significantly improves employee performance and mediates the effects of leadership, employee understanding, and political factors. Leadership has a negative direct effect on employee performance, suggesting that formal authority may not improve performance unless it is aligned with meritocratic procedures. Political factors have a positive effect when interpreted as reform support rather than patronage. The study contributes to public administration literature by showing that merit-based governance operates as an institutional bridge between organizational conditions and bureaucratic performance.