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Digitalization and automation for the sake of IT? Insight from automation initiatives in Swedish municipalities

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Ida LindgrenAuthors Info & Claims

ICEGOV '23: Proceedings of the 16th International Conference on Theory and Practice of Electronic Governance

Pages 86 - 93

https://doi.org/10.1145/3614321.3614333

Published: 20 November 2023 Publication History

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Abstract

Swedish municipalities are expected to contribute to the fulfilment of the Swedish Digital Agenda, by digitalizing and automating as much work as possible. There is currently a gap between the expectations, as expressed in policies, and the outcomes of digitalization and automation initiatives in municipalities thus far. The aim of this study is to address this gap by exploring the purpose of digitalization and automation initiatives as expressed by employees in three Swedish municipalities. We do this by applying a public values and pragmatist lens to identify ends-in-view, departing from an established model of public values. We conduct an interpretative analysis of semi-structured interviews conducted with employees at three Swedish municipalities. Our findings illustrate discrepancies between employees’ ends-in-view, in comparison with those expressed in policies on local government digitalization and automation. Despite the official Swedish digitalization strategy expressing that digitalization “is not a goal in itself”, we illustrate how compliance with directives is an important driver, as well as a feeling of having to keep up with others and showcasing a “modern” organization. These ends-in-view illustrate that digitalization projects are indeed being initiated for the sake of digitalization (without clear long-term goals) rather than for particular purposes, potentially creating digitalization practices in which the end goals of digitalization are lost along the way.

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Cited By

Lindgren IToll DJohansson BBooth MRizk AMelin U(2024)Organizational conditions required to implement RPA in local government: Insights from a Swedish case studyProceedings of the 25th Annual International Conference on Digital Government Research10.1145/3657054.3657257(434-442)Online publication date: 11-Jun-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3657054.3657257
Gomez-Beldarrain GVerma HKim EBozzon A(2024)Revealing the Challenges to Automation Adoption in Organizations: Examining Practitioner Perspectives From an International AirportExtended Abstracts of the CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3613905.3650964(1-7)Online publication date: 11-May-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3613905.3650964
Molin ARudmark DKoutsikouri DNylén D(2024)Examining Value Creation in Public Sector AI ImplementationElectronic Government10.1007/978-3-031-70274-7_20(317-333)Online publication date: 3-Sep-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1007/978-3-031-70274-7_20
Show More Cited By

Index Terms

Digitalization and automation for the sake of IT? Insight from automation initiatives in Swedish municipalities
1. Applied computing
  1. Computers in other domains
    1. Computing in government

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Published In

cover image ACM Other conferences

ICEGOV '23: Proceedings of the 16th International Conference on Theory and Practice of Electronic Governance

September 2023

509 pages

ISBN:9798400707421

DOI:10.1145/3614321

Editors:
Demi Getschko
Brazilian Network Information Center, Brazil
,
Ida Lindgren
Linköping University, Sweden
,
Mete Yildiz
United Nations University (UNU-EGOV), Portugal
,
Mário Peixoto
United Nations University (UNU-EGOV), Portugal
,
Flávia Barbosa
United Nations University (UNU-EGOV), Portugal
,
Cristina Braga
United Nations University (UNU-EGOV), Portugal

Copyright © 2023 Owner/Author.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution International 4.0 License.

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Association for Computing Machinery

New York, NY, United States

Publication History

Published: 20 November 2023

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ICEGOV 2023

ICEGOV 2023: 16th International Conference on Theory and Practice of Electronic Governance

September 26 - 29, 2023

Belo Horizonte, Brazil

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Cited By

Lindgren IToll DJohansson BBooth MRizk AMelin U(2024)Organizational conditions required to implement RPA in local government: Insights from a Swedish case studyProceedings of the 25th Annual International Conference on Digital Government Research10.1145/3657054.3657257(434-442)Online publication date: 11-Jun-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3657054.3657257
Gomez-Beldarrain GVerma HKim EBozzon A(2024)Revealing the Challenges to Automation Adoption in Organizations: Examining Practitioner Perspectives From an International AirportExtended Abstracts of the CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3613905.3650964(1-7)Online publication date: 11-May-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3613905.3650964
Molin ARudmark DKoutsikouri DNylén D(2024)Examining Value Creation in Public Sector AI ImplementationElectronic Government10.1007/978-3-031-70274-7_20(317-333)Online publication date: 3-Sep-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1007/978-3-031-70274-7_20
Sefyrin JLindgren IToll D(2024)RPA and Robot Imaginaries in Swedish Local Government - Terminator or Colleague of the Month?Electronic Government10.1007/978-3-031-70274-7_17(270-285)Online publication date: 3-Sep-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1007/978-3-031-70274-7_17

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