Theory and Methods in Digital Government

Description

In response to the evolving complexities and opportunities in the use of technology for public sector goals, there is a critical need for innovative and updated theoretical and methodological frameworks. As new technologies and stakeholders emerge, traditional Digital Government boundaries are being surpassed. In addition, Agenda 2030 and the development goals must be addressed throughout digital government policies and practices. Consequently, we need enhanced frameworks to grasp, integrate and facilitate research methods and theories on sustainable digital government.

This mini-track promotes academic engagement in testing and modifying existing theories and methodologies to capture rapidly changing reality. As an emergent research field that incorporates approaches from several disciplinary study domain as public administration, information systems, information science, and political science, there is a need to focus on theory and methods. In the multi-, cross- and even inter-disciplinary studies of digital government, theories and methods make up a key for valid and reliable studies that can guide sustainable and democratic use of digital government in policies and practices. These fresh perspectives are crucial for comprehending and examining the changing practices linked to the integration of ICT in the public sector.

New theoretical frameworks are essential for providing new concepts, processes, and perspectives to understand the multifaceted nature of digital government. Research methods are vital for ensuring the integrity and trustworthiness of digital government studies, while also adapting to the increasing complexity of the field.

Innovative theories are necessary to examine the organizational, technological, social, and institutional interdependencies in digital government (Heeks, 2006; Gil-Garcia & Pardo, 2005). Furthermore, new advanced methodological approaches, such as computational methods, digital ethnography, and data science methods, will open for new theoretical bases, that also for designing and implementing effective digital government strategies.

Digital government research also benefits from theories from various fields, including information systems, political science, public administration, and computer science. Contributions that help navigating the interdisciplinary nature of digital government research enhance the understanding of digital government impacts and implications, offering a more comprehensive and robust perspective (Luna-Reyes & Gil-Garcia, 2014) on the phenomena.

The overall purpose of this mini-track is to explore the role of theory and methodology development in the field of digital government. We welcome submissions with diverse views on the role of theory and methodology development in digital government to promote critical discussion of the current status and new theoretical trajectories of the discipline. By

exploring the theoretical foundations of digital government initiatives, these contributions will aid policymakers and practitioners in better designing, implementing, and evaluating these initiatives.

Potential topics include, but are not limited to:

• Fundamental Digital Government Theories and new approaches
• Methodological comparisons, conceptualizations and reflections in Digital Government
• The Role of Theory and Method Development and Theory Integration in Digital Government
• The Status of the Digital Government Domain (discipline, or not?)
• Digital Government Research Methodologies
• Theory and methods from digital government reference disciplines contributing to the development of effective digital government strategies and practices
• Multi/inter-disciplinary studies in digital government
• Normative theoretical approaches to digital government
• New theoretical frameworks drawn from various disciplines.
• Application of new theories to the digital government domain.
• Innovative theoretical frameworks to study normative and regulative challenges associated to the adoption of emerging technologies in the public sector.
• Theory building challenges and opportunities in digital government research.

Minitrack Leaders

Elin Wihlborg, holds a position as professor in Political Science Linkoping University, Sweden. She received her PhD in the inter-disciplinary STS-field. Her research focus on digitalization and multi-level governance, digital inclusion and energy policies. She leads an inter-disciplinary research team on digital government and public policies, that also offers the training in sustainable digital government, to young professionals in Eastern Europe and Western Balkan. Wihlborg’s work has been published in among other journals Transforming Government: People, Process and Policy, Technology in Society and presented at several conference, where she also has been a keynote speaker.

Magdalena Roszczyńska-Kurasińska, Assistant Professor, an economist and psychologist at the Robert Zajonc Institute for Social Studies, University of Warsaw. Her main research interests focus on the phenomenon of social sustainability, policy implementation, behavioral economics, participation processes, and the role of trust in acceptance of the change. She specializes in the study of complex systems, especially those co-created by people (e.g. in the field of energy, adaptive reuse of built heritage, online communities, or technology transfer).

Peter André Busch is an Associate Professor in the Department of Information Systems at Agder University. His primary research interests include decision-making (automated, semi-automated, and manual) and the use of discretion in public service provision, meta-questions of the field, and problematic sides of technology use. He has published in journals such as Government Information Quarterly, Information Polity, and Computers in Human Behavior.

Antonio Cordella, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor in the Department of Management at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), where he is the Academic director

of the Master in Information Systems and Digital Innovation and responsible for the post-graduate course on ICT in the Public Sector. He is also a visiting professor at the Maastricht Graduate School of Governance, UNMERIT, The Netherland. He has published widely in information systems, e-government and public sector associated reforms. An Italian national, he holds an undergraduate degree in Political Science from University of Bologna, Italy, and a PhD in Information Systems from Gothenburg University, Sweden. His current research focuses on ICT in the Public Sector, with specific attention to e-Government and the associated institutional changes.