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The increasing use of automated systems for decision-making and decision support in public administration is forming new practices and challenging public values since public services must be impartially accessible and designed for everyone. New robotistic process automation (RPA) systems are generally designed based on back-office structures. This requires clients to submit relevant data correctly in order for these services to function. However, not all potential or intended users of these services have the competence and the capacity to submit accurate data in the correct way. Front-line case workers at public agencies play critical roles in supporting those who have problems using the services due to the aforementioned accessibility requirements and thereby work in bridging digital divides. This article analyses strategies used by front-line case workers to complement RPA and improve the inclusion of all clients in the services. It builds on qualitative case studies at two Swedish authorities, including in-depth interviews and observations. The study shows that the discretion of the front-line case workers is limited by the RPA systems, and they also have limited discretion to support clients in their use of the digital services. Instead, they develop strategies in line with more service- and socially-oriented values; duty-oriented values are integrated into the RPA. The analysis shows the importance of forming new support structures for inclusion when public services are automated to maintain the core public values of inclusion and democratic legitimacy.

As societies become increasingly digitalized, the requirements for inclusion continuously increase. In a Swedish public, municipal, library context, it is common that individuals who face difficulties related to digital technologies come and ask for help. In this paper, we explore care in relations constituted by individuals and digital technologies and analyze how care matters for digital inclusion. It builds on field studies in a Swedish library context and includes qualitative interviews, focus groups, and observations of employees working to support individuals with digital needs. In order to analyze the material, we apply the concept of care. In the concluding discussion, we argue first for viewing individuals as sociomaterial entanglements of relations constituted by humans and non-humans, second that these sociomaterial entangled relations are vulnerable, shifting, and fluid, rather than stable, and third that these relations are in constant need of care.

Background There is a growing need to establish new knowledge on healthcare policy implementation that is relevant for both research and practice. Many attempts fail to deliver implemented policy initiates effectively because of the lack of coordination between system levels and different actors own agendas. The aim of this paper is to propose and illustrate an analytical framework providing a multilevel and multi-actor perspective in order to uncover combined difficulties of policy implementation within the context of a public healthcare system. Methods A multiple case study approach for the implementation of disease prevention in four Swedish healthcare regions was used. The selection of cases – regions within Sweden – was made in order to reflect a broad variety of contextual factors that may influence the policy implementation effectiveness. Interviewees consisted of a strategic sample of respondents representing different system levels and logics from each region. The qualitative analysis was based on empirically identified translation strategies by building a logical chain of evidence of the whole implementation process. Results The translation of policy guidelines was theorized and empirically investigated as chains of steps from the evidence-based policy formulated in the national guidelines for disease prevention methods via regional administrative systems into clinical practices. The following thematic areas were investigated: the successive translation of the policy object, consequences of policy reprioritizations, the role of technology in translation and the embedding of policy in clinical practice. Conclusions In successful implementation chains, guidelines are translated by being received and transferred to healthcare administrative systems through various political administrative activities and are then realised in everyday clinical practice. Policy is translated into different parts of the systems successively within the context of a multi-actor, multi-logic framework. Each actor/logic may take on the policy idea, change the route, delay it or even cancel out efforts. Earlier steps in the policy translation chain thus have consequences for later activities.

Purpose This paper aims to identify and elaborate on the various interpretations and implications of e-government as a process of public policy-making and as an act of information systems (IS) project management. The paper contributes to the search for a theoretical conceptualization by bridging policy project management and policy-making in public sector organizations at a crossroad of e-government to improve sustainable e-government research. Design/methodology/approach The research design of this paper focus on a model balancing the two research fields; public policy-making and analysis, and project management in the IS field. Through this model, four critical aspects of the processes are identified: objective, incentives/motivation, input/trigger and coordinative actor. These critical aspects are illustrated through findings from four case studies that are re-analyzed here. The cases show how the conceptual model through different dimensions can balance the two perspectives to reach a more sustainable outcome of e-government. Findings The paper shows that the two perspectives on e-government – public policy-making and project management – can be balanced and thereby reach a more sustainable outcome at this crossroad. The case studies re-visited in this paper are compared and serves as illustrations of these perspectives and different configurations of them in search for the crossroad. Research limitations/implications A main contribution of the paper is that e-government projects should be studied in, and taking both public policy-making and IS project management into account to be sustainable and successful. Even if the case studies have been conducted in Sweden, the conceptual results in this paper can be analytically generalized into other setting. However, there is a need for more comparative and conceptual studies in the field of e-government to shed light on the multi-faceted crossroads illustrated in this paper. Practical implications The paper offers new insights on how to integrate, bridge and even balance the two aspects of e-government policy aspects and projects management to achieve more sustainable and successful e-government. Originality/value The paper contributes to the literature by shedding light on the crossroad of policy aspects and IS project management approaches in the e-government field. The paper points at the need to further develop the understanding and design of e-government at the crossroad of information system models and political science concepts.

In rural areas, where schools are more distant, families daily time-space arrangements are organised around the schools. When local schools are closed, the management of these daily arrangements is stretched even further as families face longer distances to services and new challenges in organising their daily lives. This article focuses on how the closure of rural schools impacts on the everyday lives of families and how a local school serves as a hub for children, parents, and others in the community. This case study was conducted over the course of several years, through field studies and interviews with families (parents and children) and policy-makers before and after two schools were closed. Specifically, the study examines how school closures affect everyday life in rural communities using a time-geographical approach to account for the complex patterns of daily activities, which are determined by local daily practices and social, economic, and geographical structures. By focusing on the rural school as a time-space hub, the analysis reveals that everyday life is organised around the school, which serves as the hub of activities where social networks are created and strengthened. The time-spatial analysis showed that school closures were seen very differently in the local community. The municipal council considered the school closures to be beneficial to the community, but families expressed a loss of life quality when they had to travel longer distances. The families also pointed towards the loss of social networks, thus given them less meaning and flexibility in their everyday lives. The analysis also highlights the potential of adding a time geographical analysis to local policy-making, in particular in rural areas. Funding Agencies|research council FORMAS, Sweden [2011-1811-20331-45, Ydre 2.0]

The concept of digital divides has been on the agenda in research and policy making for at least the last 20 years. But it is still, a challenge to grasp this concept that is so elusive and transforming. Inclusion, access and equality are still key values for democraticgovernance and must be addressed in particular whenforming and contributing to a digital government. This paper seeks to intervene in current debates on digital divides and digital inclusion by analyzing two cases of responses among street-level public administration in relation to e-government services in Sweden. The case studies are strategically chosen and conducted in national agencies and in local public libraries. Three lines of contributions are discussed, firstly theimportance to care for equality secondly the need to see the non-users, and thirdly to discuss the potential of putting focus on digital diversity.

The Legitimacy of Political Entrepreneurs in Networks : Lessons From Local Development Projects in Swedish Municipalities

In this paper we analyse past sociotechnical transitions, and based on that we discuss the prospects for the central state in promoting radical transitions towards improved sustainability today. The case studies include the sociotechnical systems in Sweden providing for: (a) urban housing; (b) passenger cars as a favoured mode of transport; and (c) piped water/wastewater, all fundamentally transformed over the first seven decades of the twentieth century and especially in the 1940s up until the 1960s. The core lesson from the case studies is that the central state, by taking an active role and by coordinating the roles of different stakeholders, values and knowledge as well as different policy areas and instruments, can accomplish a coherent and effective management of such transition processes. Also in contemporary network governance settings the central state is well suited to accomplish such an active and coordinative role based on its legitimate power to design and implement different public p...

It is Swedish government policy to use information and communication technologies to increase sustainability. This has implications for planning and local organization of communities. In the municipalities where most public services are provided, there are growing numbers of local contact centres (CCs) aiming to meet citizens' needs for information and coordination of public services. The CCs localize public services and combine different services into a one-stop practice focusing on needs and demands of individual citizens and their unique situations. The municipalities hereby have to plan for service provision in new ways to meet more individualized needs that are also in line with improved sustainability. CCs are both local offices and advanced services on-line, as e-governmental services. E-government could be considered fast government, but this article aims to turn that obvious first impression upside down and discuss how e-government can slow down and make services more local, personalized ...

To extend and deepen the roles of mediators in relation to sociotechnical change, this article first suggested an analytical approach which thereafter was used for analysing two cases illustrating two Swedish mediating organizations in different sectors at different time periods: the half state-/half industry funded Research Institute for Water and Air Protection, IVL, in the 1960s and 70s; and the Swedish Urban Network Association, SUNA, in the early years of the 21st century. We found that the associated sociotechnical systems changed through the actions of mediators and their organization of time-spatial specific settings. The mediator concept contributed to our understanding of these changes through a number of visible processes of translating rather than transferring specific knowledge, by functioning as a single entrance to knowledge, by supporting the selection processes, and sometimes by bridging knowledge in unforeseen ways. Overall, the mediating actors took on roles to promote the system and encouraged actors within the system to connect and develop both the system as such.

Quality management (QM) plays an important role in public organisations’ efforts to create better access to, and effectiveness of, specific services. When transferring QM models from market-based firms to public services provided by public organisations, several basic contrasts and even contradictions must be addressed. Core values of the public sector differ from those of the private sector, but what are the consequences of this distinction? In this article we discuss the importance of four central arguments on public services: rights and access have to be considered; equality is an important facet of public services; coerciveness is a unique feature of public services; and legitimacy can be improved by high-quality services. These arguments have not been discussed explicitly in the context of QM. Adding these central aspects of public services to the QM field could generate more sustainable ways for developing quality and QM in public services in particular and the public sector in general.

There are hopes that e-government will bring many benefits, including efficiency, democratization, participation, and emancipation of citizens. However, despite some evidence that supports these cl ...