<![CDATA[The transition of academics into electoral politics is often normatively interpreted either as an expansion of public service or as a threat to academic independence. Such a dichotomy overlooks the psychological mechanisms that connect professional identity, political ambition, and available political opportunities. This study aims to explain the process and motives underlying Nelson Pomalingo's transition from professor and university rector to political party cadre and elected regional head in Gorontalo, Indonesia. A qualitative single-case design with narrative analysis was employed. Data were collected through in-depth interviews conducted in 2022 and document review. The analysis reconstructed the chronology of the transition, identified recurring motives, and interpreted them using achievement, power, and affiliation needs, political efficacy, moral identity, and social capital. The findings indicate that the transition was not an abrupt career change. It developed through an interaction between academic and managerial achievements, confidence in decision-making capacity, moral responsibility for regional development, adverse political experiences, party recruitment, and accumulated organizational networks. Achievement and affiliation were subsequently directed toward the pursuit of legitimate political influence. The narrative of public service gave moral coherence to this pursuit, while social capital and party access made candidacy feasible. This case shows that an academic's political transformation is best understood as a gradual reconstruction of professional identity within a political opportunity structure, rather than as the effect of a single motive. The study contributes an integrative political-psychological explanation while remaining limited to one retrospective account.]]>
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