This paper discusses how several stakeholders in a public e-service development project consider a future e-service and expected changes in administrative processes and working routines. Our findings indicate a much more multifaceted view than the common win-win situation, with increased quality for citizens and increased efficiency for agencies, which is rhetorically put forth as an effect of public e-service implementation. We have studied a development project resulting in an e-service for handling student anonymity when marking written exams in higher education. In this case we have identified five distinct stakeholder groups related to this e-service; students, teachers, course administrators, exam guards, and the university at an agency level. All of them having certain expectations and fears about the new situation. By presenting this diversity in opinions we add further understanding to the notion of e-services as being more or less beneficial for certain stakeholders.

Purpose – The purpose of this research is to investigate if, and in that case, how and what the e-government field can learn from user participation concepts and theories in general IS research. We aim to contribute with further understanding of the importance of citizen participation and involvement within the e-government research body of knowledge and when developing public e-services in practice.

Design/Methodology/Approach – The analysis in the article is made from a comparative, qualitative case study of two e-government projects. Three analysis themes are induced from the literature review; practice of participation, incentives for participation, and organization of participation. These themes are guiding the comparative analysis of our data with a concurrent openness to interpretations from the field.

Findings – The main results in this article are that the e-government field can get inspiration and learn from methods and approaches in traditional IS projects concerning user participation, but in e-government we also need methods to handle the challenges that arise when designing public e-services for large, heterogeneous user groups. Citizen engagement cannot be seen as a separate challenge in e-government, but rather as an integrated part of the process of organizing, managing, and performing e-government projects. Our analysis themes of participation generated from literature; practice, incentives and organization can be used in order to highlight, analyze, and discuss main issues regarding the challenges of citizen participation within e-government. This is an important implication based on our study that contributes both to theory on and practice of e-government.

Practical implications – Lessons to learn from this study concern that many e-government projects have a public e-service as one outcome and an internal e-administration system as another outcome. A dominating internal, agency perspective in such projects might imply that citizens as the user group of the e-service are only seen as passive receivers of the outcome – not as active participants in the development. By applying the analysis themes, proposed in this article, citizens as active participants can be thoroughly discussed when initiating (or evaluating) an e-government project.

Originality/value – This article addresses challenges regarding citizen participation in e-government development projects. User participation is well-researched within the IS discipline, but the e-government setting implies new challenges, that are not explored enough.

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.

In this article we discuss in what ways an e-government project can give both expected and unexpected effects for agency employees and their working tasks. The purpose of this article is to illustrate the fact that, besides the aim to increase agency efficiency and citizen benefit, e-government implementation might also change the salience of involved stakeholders. We do this by focusing on one stakeholder group which was reluctant and hesitating in the beginning of the studied project; marginalized, passive, easily convinced, and old-fashioned. After the e-government implementation, this group had turned to satisfied, proud, influential, active, powerful, and modern IT users. The case shows how stakeholder salience might change over time in an e-government project. Stakeholder influence aspects and IT driven change aspects are intertwined. This makes it necessary for any e-government project to address the notion of stakeholder involvement in decision-making during the development and implementation phases, but also to acknowledge e-services force to change how things and people are perceived during these phases.

This paper explores organizational work environment issues related to Human Resource (HR) process automation. While HR process automation promises efficiency and productivity gains, it also introduces new challenges. These include organizational changes in the conditions and requirements for work, with the potential of significant impact on the employees’ working with these technologies. Our research examines this relationship, highlighting the need to consider organizational work environment issues early in the automation process. We present preliminary findings from a literature analysis and an ongoing case study on automation of the onboarding process at a large industrial company, emphasizing the need for user involvement throughout the design, implementation, and use of the automated system. The study contributes by illustrating the relationship between HR process automation and work environment. Our continued and future work aims to contribute with theoretical insights on, and practical guidelines for, organizational work environment interventions related to HR process automation.

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. 

Despite the importance of citizens as users of digital public services, e-government research has not explicitly considered different perspectives on citizens as users of said services. This paper sets out to explore the possible variations in which the citizen as a user of digital public services is conceptualized within the e-government literature. Through a qualitative and interpretive approach, we have analysed literature from different fields of e-government research to create an overview of how citizens as users of digital public services are conceptualized in e-government research. The structure of the review departs from, and is framed by, four established value paradigms for e-government management. Our approach reveals that – depending on the perspective taken – the conceptualization of the citizen varies considerably and, as a consequence, may impact the results and contributions of each research perspective. The conception of the citizen as a user of digital public services varies from being a passive recipient of government services, to being an active co-producer of services. This article contributes to e-government theory by unboxing the conceptions of citizens as users of digital public services that are existent in current research on digital public services. In providing a framework that relates these conceptions to previously known value paradigms, the article offers a starting point for taking a multidimensional perspective in e-government research that considers the citizen as a multifaceted and heterogeneous entity.

User participation is seen as an important enabler for successful public e-service development. However, at the same time development of public e-services is still often characterised by an internal government perspective with little consideration for external users’ perspectives. This paper challenges the overly positive attitude that is surrounding user participation in e-government research. The paper aims to illustrate and problematize various aspects that influence why, how, and in whose interest user participation is conducted in public e-service development. First, via a literature review, we identify a set of dimensions for critically exploring how, why, and in whose interest user participation is conducted in public e-service development projects. Second, we use these dimensions in order to characterise and analyse three empirical public e-service development cases in order to test the utility, usefulness, and feasibility of the identified dimensions. Our findings highlight the importance of questioning and elaborating on the motives behind user participation (the why) in public e-service development. We also identify two basic forms of how user participation is addressed in public e-service development projects: 1) veneered participation, and 2) ad-hoc participation. Furthermore, we argue that any decisions made regarding user participation in public e-service development should be based on conscious and informed choices concerning why user participation is needed and what it may bring for different stakeholders and their interests.

This paper presents attempts to contribute to the conceptual refinement of e-government and public e-services by discussing the concept of “public” in relation to public e-services. It does so by building on perspectives from political science and public administration. Bridging the gap to insights made in previous research is here regarded as vital in order to contribute to conceptual, theoretical and practical development of public e-services. In turn, the paper serves as part of on-going research that contributes to the formulation of a wider conceptual framework concerning the essence of public e-services. By putting the “public” of public e-services in the foreground, public e-services are here viewed as a matter of access to governments and governmental output. Consequently, depending on issues such as usability and availability, public e-services can be conceptualized as either the swing door or gatekeeper to public services.

This title aims at presenting the latest advancements and findings from research on service automation in public sector organizations. The authors of the chapters use a mix of social- and technical approaches to increase our understanding of public service automation. The chapters present and discuss the conceptualization of automation of service in public organizations, empirical examples of automation applications in public organizations, and implementation challenges that can arise from public sector service automation. The overall ambition is to aid and inspire researchers and practitioners to advance their knowledge on service automation in public organizations, as well as to provide a foundation for policy development and future research. In this introductory chapter, we give a brief overview of the included chapters. We then synthesize a set of gaps in the current understanding of service automation in public organizations and provide suggestions for future research. We conclude that there is a continued need to observe and learn from empirical examples and a want for more critical studies on the social- and societal consequences of increased service automation in public organizations.

This paper presents an ongoing research project designed to map the current use of Robotic Process Automation (RPA) in local government. The project runs over three years (2020-2022). The empirical foundation consists of multiple qualitative and interpretative case studies, conducted in close cooperation with practitioners working in a set of Swedish municipalities. The theoretical foundation rests on previous work on stakeholder management and public value creation in the e-government domain. Through this project we ultimately strive to develop an analytical tool that can be used by researchers and practitioners to decide if, and to what degree, a specific case handling process can (and should) be automated. In this paper, the background and overall design of the project is presented, together with a discussion on our preliminary and expected findings. 

Public e-services are progressively used as a means for governmental agencies to interact and exchange information with citizens and businesses. These services are typically Internet-based and are meant to fulfill the three overarching objectives of egovernment; (1) to improve citizens’ interactions with the government, (2) to make governmental organizations more efficient and effective, and (3) to increase the transparency of government and lead to a more democratic society. The work presented in this thesis concerns how to identify those who affect the development of public e-services, and those who are affected by the implementation of a public eservice; hence public e-service stakeholders. The research is conducted according to the qualitative and interpretive research tradition. Based on theoretical and empirical work, conducted and analyzed using a hermeneutic approach, a conceptual framework is presented. The basis of the framework is laid by extracting, structuring, and interrelating concepts, models and methodologies concerning public e-services, public e-service stakeholders, and stakeholder involvement. The empirical foundation of the thesis, an interpretive case study, covers the development and implementation of a public e-service at a Swedish public sector organization. Data collection techniques include interviews, participatory observation, an open-ended questionnaire, and project documentation. The thesis presents two main knowledge contributions; 1) lessons learned from a public e-service development project involving multiple stakeholders; and 2) a conceptual framework for identifying, characterizing and involving stakeholders in the development and implementation of a public e-service.

This paper investigates if user involvement (UI) theory and theory on stakeholder theory (ST) can be merged to form a new theoretical entity that can inform whose voice should be heard in public e-service development. The investigation is based on a hermeneutic literature review and analysis. The result is a merger of ideas on who should be involved (extracted from stakeholder theory) with ideas on why this involvement should be organized (extracted from the user involvement literature). The paper presents research in progress, meaning that the merger presented is not particularly advanced. Still, this merger of ideas is substantial and important as it could function as the fundament for a more elaborate understanding of how to determine who should be involved in public e-service development. Involving the ‘right’ actors is believed to lead to higher quality in public e-services; therefore, advancement in our knowledge on how to identify these actors and finding better ways of involving these actors is needed.

Identifying internal, as well as external, stakeholders is crucial for gaining access to knowledge and information needed for public e-service development and implementation. This paper presents the motivation and starting point of on-going research aimed to sketch a broad conceptual framework with which public e-service stakeholders can be usefully identified and characterized. Based on literature on stakeholder theory in e-government research, three general public e-service characteristics, and a discussion on two stakeholder typologies, the foundation of a wider conceptual framework for understanding public e-service stakeholders is laid.

This thesis combines theories from cross-cultural psychology with literature on group faultlines to understand cultural barriers to communication and cooperation experienced in multinational emergency management teams. The aim is to investigate whether the faultline concept is a viable theoretical vocabulary for addressing cultural differences in communication and cooperation (in the domain of emergency management). Culture is defined as a relatively organized system of shared meanings which influences people’s cognition, values, behaviors, and so on. Group faultlines are hypothetical dividing lines that may split a team into homogeneous subgroups based on demographic characteristics. Three papers are included in the thesis, all of which investigate various aspects of group behavior in relation to emergency management. Results suggest that faultlines can be formed not only by demographic characteristics, but also by culturally-driven behavior. The results presented in the papers and in this thesis are meant to supply emergency management personnel with general knowledge of cultural differences and ideas for future ‘cultural awareness’ training. The thesis contributes to the scientific community by taking cross-cultural research into the applied domain so that its findings can be made relevant to people in multinational organizations.

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.

This paper compares two styles of communication used by fire-fighters during breathing apparatus (BA) rescue operations. BA rescue is a risky business and while performing a BA rescue operation, effective communication is essential for the operation to be successful. This communication involves information sharing, coordination, safety, and so on. How this communication is supposed to be carried out is not regulated. To study the establishment and maintenance of common ground between fire-fighters, communication in two pairs of BA fire-fighters was analyzed. One pair did well, while the other performed less successfully. The pair that performed better communicated using a three-step procedure: step I was an informative utterance by speaker A; step II was a confirmation by speaker B of step I; and step III was an acknowledgment by speaker A of B's confirmation. The less successful pair seldom communicated using more than two steps.

This book constitutes the proceedings of the 18th IFIP WG 8.5 International Conference on Electronic Government, EGOV 2019, held in San Benedetto del Tronto, Italy, in September 2019, in conjunction with the IFIP WG 8.5 IFIP International Conference on Electronic Participation (ePart 2019) and the International Conference for E-Democracy and Open Government Conference (CeDEM 2019).The 27 revised full papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from 64 submissions. The papers are clustered under the following topical sections: E-Government Foundations; E-Government Services and Open Government; Open Data: Social and Technical Aspects; AI, Data Analytics and Automated Decision Making; and Smart Cities.

Electronic services provided by governmental organizations, here referred to as public e-services, are frequently discussed in the e-government literature. There is, however, little consensus on the meaning of the concepts used to describe and discuss these e-services, and hence, the literature is full of synonymous terms and concepts. This paper is conceptual and presents efforts to understand e-services in the public sector domain by unpacking the public e-service concept into three dimensions; as being (1) a service, (2) electronic, and (3) public (as contrasted to being private). Based on a hermeneutic analysis, these dimensions are discussed in a number of combinations, illustrating that a multi-dimensional take on public e-services must be adopted in order to capture the complexity of governmentally supplied e-services and contribute to theory development, as well as practical utility.

This paper is conceptual and presents efforts to understand e-services in the public sector domain by decomposing the public e-service concept into three dimensions; as being (1) a service, (2) electronic, and (3) public (as contrasted to being private). Based on a three-dimensional model, these dimensions are discussed in a number of combinations, illustrating that most scholars in the e-government field fail to describe more than one or two of these dimensions, omitting important aspects of public e-services. In order to better describe and understand the complexity of governmentally supplied e-services it is argued that researchers need to adopt a three-dimensional view on public e-services.  

This paper presents ongoing research that is part of a larger engaged research project which aims to investigate what public services are suitable for digitalization. The aim of our paper is twofold. First, we explore and describe citizens' core actions in their interaction with public organizations during application for public benefits. We develop a generic process model for how this interaction can be captured empirically. The model is based on a review of previous studies from e.g., channel choice, multi-channel management, and service management, and provides a holistic view of the core actions in public service delivery as seen from the perspective of the citizen. Second, we add a channel behavior dimension to this model to create a service blueprint template that can be used to capture and analyze citizens' multichannel behavior related to benefit application. Hereby we contribute to the digital government field with a research methodology for investigation of citizens' continuous channel behavior during public service encounters.

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

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.

As a means to facilitate coordination of international relief teams during sudden onset disasters, the UN has formed a structure called the On Site Operations Coordination Center (OSOCC). The main objective of the OSOCC is to coordinate international relief teams and help local authorities re-establish control in the affected area. As with any operation where people from different parts of the world are involved, multiculturalism can become an issue. Differences in values, norms and attitudes can create problems in communication, planning and execution of the operation. We use the C3Fire microworld and the Schwartz Value Survey as our main instruments to study cultural influences in command and control decision making in simulated OSOCC. The C3Fire microworld has been used extensively in research on networked-based command and control. Augmented with observation of a real OSOCC exercise, the experimental studies provide the basis for formulating clusters of behavioral differences in command and control that one can expect to encounter during an international operation. Results show that culturally-driven differences in planning and leadership style can pose potential barriers to efficient decision making in multicultural command-and-control centers.

Local government organizations in Sweden are under pressure from policy makers and leading politicians to accelerate digital transformation of administrative tasks, in order to make public service provision more efficient and effective. As part of this digital transformation, local governments are currently investigating and implementing digital technologies that can execute administrative tasks automatically, without involvement of administrative staff. We explore an automation initiative in a Swedish municipality using a qualitative case study. Our analysis is conducted from a stakeholder perspective, investigating (1) how different stakeholders interpret automation as part of the municipality’s ongoing digitalization, and (2) their views on expected outcomes of automation of administrative tasks. Our analysis shows that different stakeholder groups hold different definitions of what digitalization and automation means for their organization, and what outcomes can be expected of automation of administrative tasks in their organization. The analysis further shows that national policy documents encourage local governments to use a specific technical solutions for automation (robotic process automation); however, this technology is viewed as somewhat problematic by the stakeholders working with IT in the organization. Our analysis contributes with an illustration of challenges that municipalities face in their endeavor to find ways of developing automation of administrative tasks, and call for further research on this topic.

Digital government is often seen as an enabler or even driver of transformation of public administration, with the objective of creating public value. Such transformations are complex, requiring a long process of change; often, digitalization of public services is seen as the main means to this end. We investigate how digitalization of public services can be related to public sector transformation, and how this development can be linked to public value. In order to do so, this paper first conceptualizes digital government enabled transformation based on literature. Thereafter, we present an empirical example of public e-service development in Sweden. This case illustrates how e-service development can highlight shifts in societal values, and challenges that follow when trying to sustain changing societal values. Our findings suggest that in order to sustain transformation and (changing) public value, multiple processes of change and redesign need to be in place, not only of the organisational processes involved, but also of regulatory and institutional aspects, such as changes to the law and in the discretion and work practice of public officials.

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.

This study explores the need for user-centered design (UCD) approaches to adapt to recent societal trends of cross-sector collaborations, civil citizen involvement and e-government initiatives affecting the public sector. This is achieved by studying three cases involving such trends, taking place in the Swedish Emergency Response System. Using results from the cases, information systems development related challenges are identified and related to adaption needs for current UCD approaches. Suggestions of such adaption are provided and a number of inherent challenges for the fourth generation of UCD are discussed, including challenges concerning (a) balancing ideological versus practical needs; (b) resources; (c) lack of know-how; and (d) design techniques and tool challenges.

This book constitutes the proceedings of the 20th IFIP WG 8.5 International Conference on Electronic Government, EGOV 2021, held in Granada, Spain, in September 2021, in conjunction with the IFIP WG 8.5 IFIP International Conference on Electronic Participation (ePart 2021) and the International Conference for E-Democracy and Open Government Conference (CeDEM 2021).The 23 full papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from 63 submissions. The papers are clustered under the following topical sections: digital transformation; digital services and open government; open data: social and technical perspectives; smart cities; and data analytics, decision making, and artificial intelligence.

User participation is often reported as a success factor for public e-service development. However, in practice, project managers face challenges to involve users due to lack of methodology, time, or context awareness. In order to tackle this lack of context awareness, we describe a conceptual model summarizing the impact of four influencing factors on user participation decisions. From this model, we then derive a decision support guide that helps project managers from public organizations understand when and how to include users in the development process. Following the design science research approach, the conceptual model is built in an iterative manner based on several literature sources and validated through in-depth interviews and group discussions with project managers and researchers. This paper contributes to research as it helps to frame the conditions impacting participation and opens the discussion for the addition of other factors. Then, it also contributes to practice as project managers developing public e-services will be able to reach a better situated participation.

This report provides both summaries and detailed discussions of the theoretical foundations, methods, and findings of empirical research aimed at identifying barriers to collaborative decision-making in multicultural On-Site Operations Coordination Centers (OSOCC). The research was conducted in 2005 and 2006 at Linköping University and Högskolan i Skövde and was sponsored by the International Department of the Swedish Rescue Services Agency. The experiments were controlled but dynamic laboratory studies of communication, collaboration, and decision making by culturally homogeneous teams of four that were assembled ad-hoc and on-site. The teams- task was to manage and conduct emergency operations within the C3Fire microworld. C3Fire recorded all communication among team members and all the actions they took. Participants individually completed a battery of self-report instruments about their values and beliefs. Results are summarized in a list of 30 dimensions of demographic and cultural diversity that are likely to be found whenever small multinational teams are formed ad-hoc and on-site. The potential impact of these dimensions is explained using the analogy of faultlines. Alignments of dimensions of diversity have the potential to generate friction and split a team into subgroups. Activated faultlines are barriers to communication, collaboration, and decision making. The report concludes with discussions of the implications of group faultlines and dimensions of cultural diversity for the SRSA-s training programs for OSOCC personnel, for the Swedish society, and for the scientific community.

Coordination is an important enabler when creating and managing coherent, integrated, secure and smart public electronic services (e-services). With an increased demand for such services, coordination as an internal organizational phenomenon is becoming increasingly important. Based on a qualitative case study, and informed by coordination theory, this paper investigates two different theoretical views applied on internal e-service coordination within a government agency in Sweden. At the outset, the agency is seeking one generic way to coordinate the current heterogeneous and fragmented internal e-service landscape in a more efficient way. Hence, our aim also includes investigating the prerequisites and potential for this type of coordination. We conduct this study in two stages. First, we apply a well-established theoretical lens from organizational theory on a set of coordination efforts, thereby perceiving coordination as a planned and anticipated activity based on a fixed set of mechanisms. Second, we apply a lens of coordinating as emergent practice, which allows for an in-depth investigation of more flexible and dynamic aspects of coordinating activities in daily work. By combining these two views, we argue that this approach can facilitate and increase understanding of the dynamics and flexibility needed to understand the type of coordination needed in public e-service contexts. This also implies that there is no single best practice or ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach to internal e-service coordination. Instead, organizations need to acknowledge the need for combined multi-dimensional views revealing the inherent complexity of coordination; as planned as well as emerging activities.

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.

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. 

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. 

Artificial intelligence (AI) is said to be the next big phase in digital- ization. There is a global ongoing race to develop, implement and make use of AI in both the private and public sector. The many responsibilities of governments in this race are complicated and cut across a number of areas. Therefore, it is important that the use of AI supports these diverse aspects of governmental commitments and values. The aim of this paper is to analyze how AI is portrayed in Swedish policy documents and what values are attributed to the use of AI. We analyze Swedish policy documents and map benefits, considerations and risks with AI into different value ideals, based on an established e-government value framework. We conclude that there is a discrepancy in the policy level discourse on the use of AI between different value ideals. Our findings show that AI is strongly associated with improving efficiency and service quality in line with previous e- government policy studies. Interestingly, few benefits are highlighted concerning engagement of citizens in policy making. A more nuanced view on AI is needed for creating realistic expectations on how this technology can benefit society.

There is currently an ongoing, global race to develop, implement, and make use of AI in both the private and public sectors. How AI will affect responsibilities and public values to be upheld by government remains to be seen. This paper analyzes how AI is portrayed in Swe-dish policy documents and what values are attributed to the use of AI, based on an established e-government value framework. Statements are identified in policy documents and are coded into one of four value ideals, as well as being either a benefit, a consideration, or a risk. We conclude that there is discrepancy in the policy level discourse concerning AI between the dif-ferent value ideals and that the discourse surrounding AI is overly optimistic. A more nuanced view of AI in government is needed to create realistic expectations.

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 19th IFIP WG 8.5 International Conference on Electronic Government, EGOV 2020, held in Linköping, Sweden, in August/September 2020, in conjunction with the IFIP WG 8.5 IFIP International Conference on Electronic Participation (ePart 2020) and the International Conference for E-Democracy and Open Government Conference (CeDEM 2020). The conference was held virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The 30 full papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from 118 submissions. The papers are clustered under the following topical sections: e-government foundations; e-government services and open government; open data: social and technical aspects; AI, data analytics, and automated decision making; and smart cities.

Working with innovation is important in several sectors and industries. One emerging arena for innovation is the arrangements of innovation contests. The aim of the paper is to describe and characterize an open innovation contest for improving healthcare, and to address the challenges involved. The research is a qualitative, explorative and interpretive case study of a Swedish region providing publicly funded healthcare. The conclusions show the need to generate and analyze data from actors with several perspectives in the contest. Challenges identified include defining and precisely expressing the problem, separating and delimiting the different problems and achieving a joint view. Other challenges were identifying and attracting knowledgeable participants, to consider incentives, and communicating the contest. In the collaboration stage, challenges involved the contest design, enabling knowledge sharing, managing various agendas, and being open-minded to new ideas; and finally, assessing whether the problem is suitable for open innovation contests at all.