Temporary Voices in Permanent Halls: Institutionalized Decoupling in United Nations Consultant Employment

ABSTRACT This study examines the institutionalization of consultant reliance within the United Nations, revealing how consultants—originally intended for short‐term, specialized roles—have come to occupy core organizational functions. Rather than a temporary solution, consultant employment has become embedded in daily operations, producing a system resistant to reform. Introducing the concept of “institutionalized decoupling,” the study analyzes how contradictions between the UN's public commitments and operational realities are reproduced and sustained across three interconnected levels. Drawing on interviews with 41 UN personnel, we trace how this decoupling is actively produced and sustained across three levels: macro‐institutional funding volatility that enforces a logic of managerialism; meso‐organizational fragmentation that enables regulatory arbitrage; and micro‐individual managerial discretion that leverages the UN's symbolic power to extract workforce commitment. By elucidating these mechanisms, the study contributes to organization studies in global governance and debates on IO performance, demonstrating how this systemic reliance on contingent labor undermines the organizational independence and epistemic authority of the international civil service.