LIST OF PANELS

Digitalization is now a feature of governments around the world. UNESCO defines digital government (DG) as: ‘The public sector’s use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) with the aim of improving information and service delivery, encouraging citizen participation in the decision-making process and making government more accountable, transparent, and effective’ (UNESCO 2011: p. 634, cited in Gil-Garcia et al., 2018). While digitalization may result in more efficient services, minimize red tape, enable input from citizens, and lead to more equal services, it could also hinder professional discretion, reduce the accessibility of some groups to services, and harm equality and the ability of service users to be heard (e.g., Larsson et al., 2021).

While it is clear that digitalization is here to stay, there are theoretical and empirical gaps in the literature on its implications for public services (Plesner et al., 2018; Lindgren et al., 2019). Our aim is to explore one aspect of digitalization: its implications for professionals and citizens. The digitalization of public services has changed the roles of professionals and citizens (service users), as well as the encounter between them, leading to a new kind of relationship (Lindgren et al. 2019).

The panel will explore and develop the theoretical and empirical implications of the implementation of digitalization for professionals and citizens and the encounter between them, based on public policy literature (e.g., street-level bureaucrats, Lipsky, 2010; institutional analysis and development (IAD) framework, Ostrom, 2011), to better understand the digitalization processes in public organizations. Embracing an inclusive standpoint, we would like to receive papers exploring the following questions, while remaining open to other possibilities:         

1.     What can public policy theory contribute to the understanding of the place of professionals and citizens in the implementation of digitalization in public organizations?

2.     How has the role of professionals in public organizations changed because of digitalization?

3.     How has the place of citizens in public organizations changed because of digitalization?

4.     How has the relationship between professionals and citizens changed because of digitalization in public organizations?

5.     Are there differences between different countries in the effect on professionals and citizens of the implementation of digitalization processes?               

While we are happy to receive theoretical and empirical papers, we prefer comparative studies including more than one country. The abstract will be judged based on the clarity of the theoretical frame and the method.

References

Gil-Garcia, J. R., Dawes, S. S., & Pardo, T. A. (2018). Digital government and public management research: finding the crossroads. Public Management Review, 20(5), 633-646.

Larsson, K. K. (2021). Digitization or equality: When government automation covers some, but not all citizens. Government Information Quarterly, 38(1), 101547.

Lindgren, I., Madsen, C. Ø., Hofmann, S., & Melin, U. (2019). Close encounters of the digital kind: A research agenda for the digitalization of public services. Government Information Quarterly, 36(3), 427-436.

Lipsky, M. (2010). Street-level bureaucracy: Dilemmas of the individual in public services (30th-anniversary edition). New York: Russell Sage Foundation.

Plesner, U., Justesen, L., & Glerup, C. (2018). The transformation of work in digitized public sector organizations. Journal of Organizational Change Management.

Ostrom, E. (2011). Background on the institutional analysis and development framework. Policy Studies Journal, 39(1), 7-27.

The panel will explore and develop the theoretical and empirical implications of the implementation of digitalization for professionals and citizens and the encounter between them, based on public policy literature (e.g., street-level bureaucrats, Lipsky, 2010; institutional analysis and development (IAD) framework, Ostrom, 2011), to better understand the digitalization processes in public organizations. Embracing an inclusive standpoint, we would like to receive papers exploring the following questions, while remaining open to other possibilities:         

1.     What can public policy theory contribute to the understanding of the place of professionals and citizens in the implementation of digitalization in public organizations?

2.     How has the role of professionals in public organizations changed because of digitalization?

3.     How has the place of citizens in public organizations changed because of digitalization?

4.     How has the relationship between professionals and citizens changed because of digitalization in public organizations?

5.     Are there differences between different countries in the effect on professionals and citizens of the implementation of digitalization processes?               

While we are happy to receive theoretical and empirical papers, we prefer comparative studies including more than one country. The abstract will be judged based on the clarity of the theoretical frame and the method.