<p>This paper explores the ambivalent role of informal networks in shaping academic careers as well as academic and research integrity in Kazakhstan. Drawing on 23 in-depth interviews with senior university leaders, the study examines how informal networks both facilitate scholarly work and undermine merit-based governance. Building on Ledeneva’s typology of informal networks, the paper identifies four coexisting forms—solidarity, domination, redistribution, and market-oriented networks—and analyzes how each shapes hiring, promotion, authorship, funding allocation, and research evaluation. Although these networks often compensate for institutional gaps arising from rapid internationalization and metric-driven reforms, they also legitimize practices such as favoritism, guest authorship, citation manipulation, and informal interference in evaluation processes. The findings challenge individualistic understandings of academic misconduct by showing that questionable practices are embedded in relational obligations, hierarchical dependencies, and structural incentives. The paper concludes by discussing implications for academic integrity policies and argues for context-sensitive approaches that recognize the persistence and ambivalence of informal networks rather than seeking to eliminate them.</p>