The two common ways for modfying search order is to use either the environment NSORDER or an entry in /etc/netsvc.conf.

e.g., I usually set
hosts=local4,bind4

in /etc/netsvc.conf

the 4 specifies to only check for IP4 addresses resolution, a 6 would search only IP6, and no number searches IP4 then IP6 space.

If nothing is set, the default is equivalent to
hosts=bind,nis,local (or maybe it is nis,bind,local I have not even tried to use nis in 15 to 20 years - so I forget ;-| )

Having bind first - when a default is defined, but network is not working - can slow a reboot a long time. Setting the timeout and retry in either /etc/environment via environment variables, or in /etc/resolv.conf - can shorten this drastically.

While I have never used it myself - I expect that any bind/dns setting you can use on a POSIX system, such as Solaris - should work in the same way on AIX.