Municipalities in Sweden are recommended to pursue process automation to face upcoming societal challenges. This paper focuses on a case where these recommendations are operationalized. Views on ...process automation held by different stakeholders, in relation to value ideals they prioritize in their respective areas of work, are explored by combining stakeholder theory and a model of public value ideals. Our findings show that, different stakeholder groups prioritize different values and that their views on process automation as an enabler of these value ideals are either optimistic, undecided, or pessimistic, where the latter two can be considered obstacles. This paper contributes, with an empirical illustration of how process automation is operationalized, answering previous calls for more research on this topic. We also elaborate on the use of stakeholder theory and public value as an analytical lens, contributing to the growing body of research attempting to understand process automation.
This paper contributes to e-government research by presenting a review and discussion on how digitalization of public services has affected the interaction between citizens and government. We argue ...for a conceptualization and critical reflection on the nature of the underlying interaction between citizens and public officials - the public encounter - that digital public services are developed to support. We apply a qualitative and hermeneutic approach and illustrate that digital public services change public encounters concerning when, where, and how interactions occur, what each actor does, and the skills required of them. By relating these changes to emerging digital technologies (e.g. data mining, machine learning, sensor technology, and service automation), we illustrate that while these new technologies carry the potential to further digitalize service provision and fulfill the democratic goals of digital government, authorities can apply the same technology to restrict, control, and surveil citizens. Based on a critical discussion on what digitalization might entail for society, we identify problem areas arising from this development and propose a research agenda for understanding this phenomenon further. We raise questions and ethical concerns regarding accountability and reskilling of citizens and public officials as public service provision becomes citizen self-service.
•Digitalization of public services changes citizen-public official interaction.•Digitalization changes required skills for citizens and public officials.•Digitalization changes initiation, duration and scope of the interaction.•We illustrate a need to study these changes further.•We propose a theoretical framework and research agenda.
Following a large worldwide uptake of digital public services, several countries have turned to mandatory digitization, whereby citizens or companies must use digital self-service applications to ...apply for public services. However, previous research on the adoption of digital public services has predominantly focused on simple, or even hypothetical, services and situations. We identify a knowledge gap concerning citizens' experience of actual interactions with digital self-service for more complicated social services and benefits. Therefore, we explore digital self-service from the perspective of citizens using the concept of administrative burden as a theoretical lens. Specifically, we analyze data from in-depth empirical studies encompassing observations, interviews, and focus group discussions with single mothers who have applied for public benefits following divorce or family separation. We present a descriptive process model for citizens' application for public benefits. Next, we illustrate how digital self-service influences citizens' administrative burden throughout this process. An important contribution reveals that citizens' administrative burden increases—they must learn how to complete tasks that professional caseworkers previously conducted and comply with government demands concerning digital self-service applications and specific data formats. However, digital self-service can also reduce citizens' administrative burden through the online provision of information and automatic data transfers. Further, digital self-service offers an anonymous application process that may reduce the psychological costs and stigma associated with receiving public benefits. Finally, our research contributes new insights at the theoretical level, linking the concept of administrative burden to complex digital self-service use from a citizen perspective.
•Digital self-service changes the administrative burden of citizens•Digital self-service creates new requirements for citizens' administrative competencies•We present a process model for citizens' use of digital services•We illustrate administrative burdens caused by citizens' use of digital self-service•We apply and expand the theoretical concept of administrative burden
Purpose
This paper aims to identify and elaborate on the various interpretations and implications of e-government as a process of public policy-making and as an act of information systems (IS) ...project management. The paper contributes to the search for a theoretical conceptualization by bridging policy project management and policy-making in public sector organizations at a crossroad of e-government to improve sustainable e-government research.
Design/methodology/approach
The research design of this paper focus on a model balancing the two research fields; public policy-making and analysis, and project management in the IS field. Through this model, four critical aspects of the processes are identified: objective, incentives/motivation, input/trigger and coordinative actor. These critical aspects are illustrated through findings from four case studies that are re-analyzed here. The cases show how the conceptual model through different dimensions can balance the two perspectives to reach a more sustainable outcome of e-government.
Findings
The paper shows that the two perspectives on e-government – public policy-making and project management – can be balanced and thereby reach a more sustainable outcome at this crossroad. The case studies re-visited in this paper are compared and serves as illustrations of these perspectives and different configurations of them in search for the crossroad.
Research limitations/implications
A main contribution of the paper is that e-government projects should be studied in, and taking both public policy-making and IS project management into account to be sustainable and successful. Even if the case studies have been conducted in Sweden, the conceptual results in this paper can be analytically generalized into other setting. However, there is a need for more comparative and conceptual studies in the field of e-government to shed light on the multi-faceted crossroads illustrated in this paper.
Practical implications
The paper offers new insights on how to integrate, bridge and even balance the two aspects of e-government policy aspects and projects management to achieve more sustainable and successful e-government.
Originality/value
The paper contributes to the literature by shedding light on the crossroad of policy aspects and IS project management approaches in the e-government field. The paper points at the need to further develop the understanding and design of e-government at the crossroad of information system models and political science concepts.
Smart cities have been studied for many years, but smart homes and the citizens' actual living in these smart homes are less researched. We argue that for digital government research, and for ...governments to be successful in smart city development in practice, it is necessary not only to understand living on a societal level, but also living aspects in the narrow context of homes. Citizens populate the smart city and are the ones who are supposed to use the services provided by the government. In this article we explore and analyze digital and analogue services in smart homes developed in a new city district. We have conducted observational studies in 53 apartments during an urban living expo which we analyze by applying a set of socio-technical design principles. The research question that guides the analysis is: “What tensions between values in digital and analogue services for a smart living can be revealed by a socio-technical perspective?”. We identify five tensions between: 1) being in control and being controlled, 2) intended and undesirable use of personal data, 3) digital and analogue smartness, 4) smart home visions and practices, and 5) environmental and social sustainability. By revealing these tensions, we contribute to an understanding of the complexity of smart living. We also contribute by highlighting the importance of applying a perspective that captures both technology and citizen and user issues (i.e., social aspects) when developing services in the smart home context.
•The smart home as an instance of smart living in smart cities.•53 homes are explored and analyzed from a socio-technical perspective.•Five tensions between values in smart living are revealed.•A resident perspective is critical in smart city policy-making.
The main goals of e-government are to increase agency efficiency and offer benefits to citizens. These goals have often been addressed as two interplaying outcomes of public e-service development, ...which are possible to achieve in parallel. This article shows that the two frequently applied stakeholders of e-government (agencies and citizens) are much too extensive and heterogeneous in order to be meaningfully addressed in public e-service conceptualization and development. We conduct a stakeholder centered analysis of a public e-service development and implementation process in order to identify stakeholder groups and discuss how they differ in their perceptions and, consequently, also in their feelings of relevance and need related to the e-service. By adopting a multi-faceted perspective on stakeholders, public e-service development can be analyzed and understood in a way that takes several stakeholder groups into account. Our study contributes with deeper insights about a situation where stakeholder salience changes over time, while some stakeholder groups have low salience during the entire process. The result of conducting a stakeholder centered analysis is that we, by visualizing the stakeholder groups' differences, are better prepared to meet and combine different needs related to a planned e-service. Thus, we argue that a stakeholder centered analysis of expectations and opinions concerning the e-service help to develop e-services possible to succeed in offering both external service and internal efficiency.
► Agencies and citizens as e-government stakeholders are too diverse to be meaningfully addressed in e-service development. ► By adopting a multi-faceted perspective on stakeholders, public e-service development acknowledges further stakeholders. ► Our study contributes with deeper insights about a situation where stakeholder salience changes over time. ► Stakeholder centered analysis of expectations helps to develop e-services offering external service and internal efficiency.
Digitalisation provides both challenges and opportunities for Quality Management (QM). The purpose of this study is to identify various roles QM practitioners play in digitalisation initiatives to ...uncover the challenges and potential of QM's digitalisation journey. This issue is addressed through an analytical framework that stresses two dimensions: the exploration and exploitation of digitalised QM processes and value creation, which is performed by the customer or in interactions facilitated by the provider. Through a multiple-case study of four large Swedish organisations, we propose six different challenges and corresponding roles for QM. Further, the study identifies challenges of digitalisation affecting both exploitative and explorative practices throughout an organisation's value creation process. This research contributes to the existing literature with empirical evidence on the challenges induced by digitalisation, an area often discussed but not as often studied empirically.
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