Citizens are oftentimes the central unit of analysis in e-government research and treated as one of the stakeholders receiving the most benefits from public sector digitalization. Still, they are mostly described in generalterms, and it remains unclear what roles they can assume in relation to e-government. Different understandingsof the citizens’ role in e-government may impact research, because they entail different axioms mainly in relationto the technological frame for e-government but also for the citizens’ relationship to public sector organizationsin general. The aim of this article is to investigate and conceptualize the citizens’ role in e-government based onpublic value positions. We depart from Rose et al.’s (2015) framework of value positions for managing e-government. After reviewing and analyzing extensive research on e-government, we use this framework tocontribute a clarification of the citizens’ role in each value position. Our analysis shows that the ideal citizen isconceptualized differently across the four value positions; ranging from an external entity that should servicethemselves using digital self-services, to an engaged agent that should be actively involved in policy making andservice delivery. In addition to this new perspective on the citizens’ role in e-government, we contribute with anextension of the public value positions framework. The extended framework presented in this article makes thesedifferences visible and we discuss consequences of the citizens’ role in e-government for other dimensions of theframework. 

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.

The EGOV-CeDEM-ePart 2023 conference, or for short EGOV2023, is now in the sixth year of itsexistence after the successful merger of three formerly independent conferences, e.g., the IFIP WG 8.5Electronic Government (EGOV), the Conference for E-Democracy and Open Government Conference(CeDEM), and the IFIP WG 8.5 IFIP Electronic Participation (ePart). This larger, united conference is dedicated to a broad area of digital or electronic government, open government, smart governance, artificial intelligence, e-democracy, policy informatics, and electronic participation. Scholars from around the world have found this conference to be a premier academic forum with a long traditionalong its various branches, which has given the EGOV-CeDEM-ePart conference its reputation as the leading conference worldwide in the research domains of digital/electronic, open, and smart government as well as electronic participation.

This book constitutes the proceedings of the 22nd IFIP WG 8.5 International Conference on Electronic Government, EGOV 2023, which took place in Budapest, Hungary, during September 5–7, 2023.The 28 full papers included in this book were carefully reviewed and selected from a total of 106 submissions. They were organized in topical sections as follows: Digital government; artificial intelligence, algorithms, and automation; open government and open data; smart cities, regions, and societies; innovation and transformation in government.

Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is a popular software used for process automation in order to automate administrative tasks, traditionally performed by knowledge workers. The existing research on RPA is lacking in terms of what is known about how this type of technology affects the work situations of employees and their experiences with it. In this study, we seek to contribute to this knowledge gap by conducting an inductive analysis of employee experiences in three Swedish municipalities to explore the effects of RPA on their work situation. We find that RPA creates different effects during implementation compared to post-implementation, and that these effects can be positive or negative in both cases. Furthermore, we show that RPA may alleviate stress in one area of the organization, but that new stress emerges in another. We also conclude that the experiences on the individual level are interconnected with the organizational and managerial aspects of RPA, showing the need to further interconnect knowledge in these areas. Finally, we present some recommendations for future research, with an emphasis on studying employees’ work situations from a work environment perspective. 

Public service automation and no-stop government are currently two intensively discussed concepts in digital government literature. Although their definitions point to different meanings, some scholars equate the terms and use them interchangeably. Since a clear shared understanding is crucial for scholars to produce reliable research, this conceptual paper aims to shed light on the two terms and support conceptual clarity. We investigate the meaning and relationship between the concepts of public service automation and no-stop government in digital government research. We review the meaning of each concept and discuss the relationship between the two. Thereby, we show that both terms refer to the substitution of a human in public service delivery, but differences lie in the arrangement of the substitution. In automation, a machine substitutes a public official. In contrast, in no-stop government the public organization substitutes the client. We illustrate the relationship between the two concepts using a three-sided model, showing how the use of digital technologies can create an overlap between the two concepts. This conceptual understanding can be used to guide future research and theorizing in the digital government domain.

After more than a decade of intense digitalization of public service delivery in Scandinavia, scholars and public organizations wonder why many citizens still prefer to use traditional communication channels to interact with government. In this paper, we explore citizens' channel behavior when applying for public benefits from the Norwegian Labour and Welfare Administration (NAV). We break down the application process into separate actions to answer the research question: what causes citizens to use multiple channels in the benefit application process? Based on qualitative semi-structured interviews with frontline workers at NAV, we describe the process citizens undergo when they apply for benefits from NAV, the actions citizens perform, and the problems they experience, which cause them to contact NAV. Frontline workers are interviewed as these are knowledgeable experts on the application process who can give an aggregate account of the various problems citizens encounter. We contribute with empirical descriptions of how two benefit application processes play out in different ways and cause different channel behaviors. Analyses of this kind are important to supply new knowledge for the ongoing digitalization of public welfare service provision to enhance citizens' ability to successfully co-produce the service. Further, we offer contributions to research practice by illustrating how citizens' interaction with public organizations can be studied and analyzed holistically, using a process model for breaking the interaction down into parts

Home  Service Automation in the Public Sector  ChapterOrganizing for Robotic Process Automation in Local Government: Observations from Two Case Studies of Robotic Process Automation Implementation in Swedish MunicipalitiesIda Lindgren, Maria Åkesson, Michel Thomsen & Daniel Toll ChapterFirst Online: 15 March 2022571 Accesses5 CitationsPart of the Progress in IS book series (PROIS)AbstractAutomation of internal administrative processes tied to the delivery of public services is outlined as a continuation of the development toward a more digital, efficient, and effective local government. However, this development is often based on unrealistic expectations of the transformative power of digital technologies. It is therefore important to further understand automation as a driver of digital transformation of local government organizations. Automation, in this chapter, is understood as a change from a function previously carried out by a human to being performed by a machine agent (e.g., robotic process automation). We explore and compare how initiatives to implement robotic process automation (RPA) are organized in two Swedish municipalities. Our analysis is based on semi-structured interviews with employees working in the two municipalities. The analysis shows interesting patterns across the cases concerning dissonances and disconnects between stakeholders on different levels in the organizations, making this kind of development difficult. Our results contribute with (a) empirical illustrations that show how general policies on process automation promoted by policymakers are influencing the organization of IT and work in local government practice; (b) challenges that affect the implementation of RPA in local government; and (c) point to a set of observations that require further research.