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Digitalization in the public sector

What constitutes a digitalized public sector? - how should we get there and why does it matter?

As calls for the continued digitalization of the public sector become more frequent, it is timely – and important – to pursue research on how our public institutions make sense in and out of digitalization, what stakeholders are influencing the digitalization of public sector, and the implications, futures and fantasies of a digital public sector. The aim of this research project is therefore to explore and understand digitalization in a public context, how ideas about digitalization are shaped, what digitalization constitutes or becomes, and how it is shaping and affecting public sector employees, citizens, and society. 

To answer some of the questions arising from digitalization of public sector the research area stretches in a broad range of perspectives on digitalization. Topics currently explored within the program include digital governance, decision making on digitalization, public policy malleability, performativity and materiality in government agency practices and public organizations navigating the uncertainty of what constitutes a digital public sector. Digitalization is deliberately not limited to a definition as the definition is out there to explore. Our work also spans technologies (AI, blockchain, robotics) as well as social, organizational and societal challenges. These include the future of work, the future of public organizations and their service delivery, disruption of sector and industrial boundaries, collaborative models and more.

International callaborators

Professor Lucas Introna, Lancaster University (UK) 

Postdoctoral Researcher Viktor Arvidsson, University of Sydney