Projects / Programmes
Transformation of governance and public service delivery mechanisms in the digital age
| Code |
Science |
Field |
Subfield |
| 5.04.00 |
Social sciences |
Administrative and organisational sciences |
|
| Code |
Science |
Field |
| S170 |
Social sciences |
Political and administrative sciences |
| Code |
Science |
Field |
| 5.06 |
Social Sciences |
Political science |
public governance models, digital transformation model, public service delivery, co-creation, citizens, public administration reform, Slovenia
Researchers (16)
| no. |
Code |
Name and surname |
Research area |
Role |
Period |
No. of publicationsNo. of publications |
| 1. |
18942 |
PhD Aleksander Aristovnik |
Economics |
Head |
2019 - 2022 |
934 |
| 2. |
28315 |
MSc Boris Glogovac |
Computer intensive methods and applications |
Researcher |
2019 - 2022 |
4 |
| 3. |
19293 |
PhD Maja Klun |
Economics |
Researcher |
2019 - 2021 |
865 |
| 4. |
23676 |
PhD Polonca Kovač |
Law |
Researcher |
2019 - 2022 |
1,523 |
| 5. |
28891 |
Gregor Krnec |
|
Technical associate |
2020 - 2022 |
0 |
| 6. |
38016 |
Miha Lebič |
|
Technical associate |
2019 - 2020 |
0 |
| 7. |
55294 |
Eva Murko |
Economics |
Researcher |
2021 - 2022 |
32 |
| 8. |
32755 |
PhD Mirko Pečarič |
Administrative and organisational sciences |
Researcher |
2020 - 2022 |
384 |
| 9. |
38162 |
PhD Dejan Ravšelj |
Economics |
Researcher |
2020 - 2022 |
150 |
| 10. |
30838 |
PhD Marko Ropret |
Economics |
Researcher |
2019 - 2020 |
83 |
| 11. |
19329 |
PhD Janez Stare |
Administrative and organisational sciences |
Researcher |
2019 - 2021 |
692 |
| 12. |
16302 |
PhD Ljupčo Todorovski |
Computer science and informatics |
Researcher |
2019 - 2021 |
443 |
| 13. |
26328 |
PhD Nina Tomaževič |
Economics |
Researcher |
2020 - 2022 |
290 |
| 14. |
28519 |
PhD Lan Umek |
Administrative and organisational sciences |
Researcher |
2020 - 2022 |
206 |
| 15. |
53854 |
Luka Vavtar |
|
Technical associate |
2020 - 2022 |
0 |
| 16. |
02262 |
PhD Mirko Vintar |
Computer science and informatics |
Retired researcher |
2019 - 2022 |
419 |
Organisations (2)
Abstract
The public administration constantly needs to look for opportunities to improve its productivity, increase collaboration, improve process efficiency and focus on innovation. In this regard, digitalization represents a significant opportunity to fundamentally redesign public governance: enabling changes in relationships within government, and between governments and their citizens, as facilitated by big data, cloud computing, blockchain technology and other ICT-related drivers of administrative development. Yet, according to the Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI 2018) and other rankings, Slovenia's PA digitalization performance is mediocre, compared to other European Union (EU) states and globally. Therefore, the project aims to develop a digital transformation model (DTM) for the Slovenian public administration. The model will be based on the limitations of Slovenia’s present model of public governance and service delivery, recognizing existing international model guidelines which will be significantly modernized according to the needs of governance in the digital era by incorporating the following innovative improvements: 1) the emerging and already used contemporary information technologies (social networks, the IoT, blockchain, mobility, analytics/big data, machine learning cloud computing etc.), 2) looking beyond the existing model’s bureaucratic and technocratic focus, tailoring the administrative and service design to the principles of modern public governance ((Neo)-Weberianism, NPM, good governance, digital-era and post-digital-era governance etc.), 3) utilizing the potential of citizen co-creation, significantly adding to the model’s feasibility (due to the comprehensive amount of input gained from its users etc.), 4) tailoring the DTM to Slovenian national particularities from the governance perspective (post-socialism, Rechtsstaat culture, EU membership, a small state etc.), 5) ensuring the DTM’s adaptability to administrative operation and service delivery mechanisms at different governance levels (the level of the state agency, ministries and individual organizational units within the latter, the level of the municipality, territorial-administrative unit etc.). Along with the establishment of a scientific model, the challenge of implementing the DTM in administrative practice will also be addressed. The implementation feasibility will be supported by the model’s focus on directly controllable elements incorporated within an openly available innovative software solution, where public institutions will be presented with the current state of digital transformation as well as the referential values based on best-performing institutions. For the responsible policymakers and the citizens, particularly the aggregate results will be useful, with a focus on raising awareness about the least exploited elements of digital transformation. Further, by monitoring the users' feedback, technological improvements and best practices regarding both, the DTM and consequently the software solution will also be dynamically adjusted, thereby overcoming limits of the existing finite-state digital governance models. The scientific contribution is demonstrated in the development of a unique DTM directly addressing the lack of adequate digital transformation frameworks and existing limitations in governing the public administration system in the digital age. This proves to be particularly relevant as it represents one of the most important contemporary interdisciplinary research issues. Content-wise, the project ensures the level of comprehensiveness still required in studies in Slovenia and the broader EU area. Thus, the DTM will act as a reliable framework for service and administrative design, fostering transparent and participative authoritative decision-making, a more cost-efficient public administration, user-focused public services, crowdsourcing, adequately holistic data analysis and policymaking.
Significance for science
The scientific contribution is demonstrated in the development of a unique DTM directly addressing the lack of adequate digital transformation frameworks and existing limits in governing the public administration system in the digital age. Content-wise, the project ensures the level of required comprehensiveness not yet achieved in studies in Slovenia and the broader EU area (Bouckaert, 2012; Hammerschmid, et al. 2016; Bevir, 2011). Namely, the DTM, instead of focusing on other studies, takes the statistically verified specifics of the Slovenian public administration into account by appropriately balancing the numerous elements of administrative and service design, influenced by a wide network of actors. Also, our original model takes account of the differentiation between the "front-office" nature of the interaction, and the "back-office" nature of the underlying processes, thereby contributing a realistic multidimensional space for digital governance maturity improvements. In addition, we acknowledge that governance in the digital era that suits Slovenia’s public administration needs can only be developed by analysing data, addressed at all levels of governance. Namely, multi-level governance from the perspective of Central and Eastern European countries is characterized by a largely hierarchical structure, and there is a mismatch of the old hierarchical structures and the new institutions that emerged during and after the period of transition, often causing vertical coordination problems (Kluvankova-Oravska and Chobotova, 2010). An especially big challenge while implementing the above strategies is their exceptional extensiveness and the related need for additional support with a systematic and clear order of the required measures (Bileišis and Kovač, 2017). Thus, the DTM will act as a reliable framework for service design and administrative design, fostering transparent and participative authoritative decision-making, a more cost-efficient public administration, user-focused public services, crowdsourcing, adequately holistic data analysis and policymaking. Resolving the challenges of complex and big data encountered in public administration research will also lead to novel and relevant contributions in the general field of computer science, more specifically, machine learning and data mining. The dissemination of the DTM and the accompanying materials (research publications and an openly accessible software tool) through a wide range of communication channels will enable the project group to effectively address the main PA stakeholders, effectively tackling the challenge of absorbing these findings into administrative practice. It will be reasonably taken into account that digitalization represents an evolving process and thus the findings will be substantiated with the newest examples of good Slovenian and governance practices worldwide, representing further proposals for governance modernization beyond the state of the art.
Significance for the country
The scientific contribution is demonstrated in the development of a unique DTM directly addressing the lack of adequate digital transformation frameworks and existing limits in governing the public administration system in the digital age. Content-wise, the project ensures the level of required comprehensiveness not yet achieved in studies in Slovenia and the broader EU area (Bouckaert, 2012; Hammerschmid, et al. 2016; Bevir, 2011). Namely, the DTM, instead of focusing on other studies, takes the statistically verified specifics of the Slovenian public administration into account by appropriately balancing the numerous elements of administrative and service design, influenced by a wide network of actors. Also, our original model takes account of the differentiation between the "front-office" nature of the interaction, and the "back-office" nature of the underlying processes, thereby contributing a realistic multidimensional space for digital governance maturity improvements. In addition, we acknowledge that governance in the digital era that suits Slovenia’s public administration needs can only be developed by analysing data, addressed at all levels of governance. Namely, multi-level governance from the perspective of Central and Eastern European countries is characterized by a largely hierarchical structure, and there is a mismatch of the old hierarchical structures and the new institutions that emerged during and after the period of transition, often causing vertical coordination problems (Kluvankova-Oravska and Chobotova, 2010). An especially big challenge while implementing the above strategies is their exceptional extensiveness and the related need for additional support with a systematic and clear order of the required measures (Bileišis and Kovač, 2017). Thus, the DTM will act as a reliable framework for service design and administrative design, fostering transparent and participative authoritative decision-making, a more cost-efficient public administration, user-focused public services, crowdsourcing, adequately holistic data analysis and policymaking. Resolving the challenges of complex and big data encountered in public administration research will also lead to novel and relevant contributions in the general field of computer science, more specifically, machine learning and data mining. The dissemination of the DTM and the accompanying materials (research publications and an openly accessible software tool) through a wide range of communication channels will enable the project group to effectively address the main PA stakeholders, effectively tackling the challenge of absorbing these findings into administrative practice. It will be reasonably taken into account that digitalization represents an evolving process and thus the findings will be substantiated with the newest examples of good Slovenian and governance practices worldwide, representing further proposals for governance modernization beyond the state of the art.
Most important scientific results
Interim report
Most important socioeconomically and culturally relevant results
