Governing Digital Transformation in Public-Sector Organisations (DiTraPO)

Project description

Public-sector organisations face growing pressure to adapt to digitalisation, not least because society increasingly expects them to fulfil their responsibilities in modern, reliable and transparent ways. In practice, however, digital initiatives often remain fragmented and primarily focus on isolated technical solutions or outward-facing digital services. In this context, digital transformation is still often viewed first and foremost as a matter of IT or e-government. Yet it goes much further: as a comprehensive process of organisational change, it reshapes how these organisations fulfil their responsibilities, allocate roles, make decisions, organise internal processes, lead and collaborate.

Public-sector organisations differ fundamentally from private-sector companies. They perform public functions, operate within specific legal and institutional constraints, and must align their actions not only with efficiency, but also with legitimacy, equal treatment, accountability and the public interest. At the same time, the public sector is far from homogeneous: organisations differ considerably in their responsibilities, degree of autonomy, institutional set-up and governance structures.

The research project therefore examines how technological, organisational, cultural and institutional conditions interrelate in the digital transformation of public-sector organisations. In particular, it addresses which insights from existing research on the digital transformation of companies can be transferred, where the limits of such transfer lie, and what context-sensitive governance and design approaches might look like. To this end, the project develops a conceptual framework for the digital transformation of public-sector organisations, systematically assesses the transferability of existing models and governance approaches, and combines this with empirical research and the participatory development of practice-oriented design approaches.

The project aims to generate research-based knowledge for the context-sensitive governance of digital transformation processes in the public sector. The resulting governance approaches are intended to support public-sector organisations in shaping digital transformation effectively, legitimately and in ways that are compatible with their respective mandates and structures.

Project team

Publications