This study investigates the barriers and drivers of digital transformation within the European Union's (EU) Agencies, focusing on one of the European Commission’s (EC) decentralised agencies. As digital technologies evolve rapidly, EU agencies face unique challenges and opportunities in integrating emerging technologies into their operations. The research employs a qualitative case study utilising semi-structured interviews to gather rich, detailed insights. The findings reveal that strategic alignment, leadership commitment, and technological infrastructure significantly influence the success of digital transformation initiatives. However, challenges such as resistance to change, regulatory constraints, and resource limitations determine the pace and effectiveness of transformation efforts. This research contributes to further our understanding of digital transformation in the public sector and offers practical insights for EU agencies. By highlighting the EU agency's specific conditions, the study provides a foundation for policy and strategy development to enhance digital capabilities across the European public sector. The findings also further our understanding of the complexities of managing digital transformation within highly regulated environments like the EU, offering a roadmap for future research and practice in the public sector.

The use of emerging digital technologies in the healthcare industry has been one of the developments embraced by most national governments and regional bodies, including the European Commission. Long-term plans were drafted to guide the industry-wide adoption of such technologies, including electronic healthcare management systems and applications like telesurgery. These plans recognise the daunting nature of digital transformation and the overwhelming organisational changes needed to realise the anticipated benefits. Unfortunately, in 2020, the outbreak of COVID-19 brought unprecedented urgency to rapidly adopt digital technologies, disrupting routines and existing work processes. This phenomenology study, based on data collected through interviews with nurses and medical doctors, aims to show how this forced digital transformation turned out and which lessons could be taken. The findings indicate that the most significant of the changes, from physical consultations to telemedicine, was embraced readily by patients, while it was viewed unfavourably by some of the healthcare providers. However, the attitude of healthcare providers towards the use of digital technologies has improved since the pandemic. On the other hand, the rapid adoption of digital technologies has also revealed challenges that need to be overcome to realise the full benefits of the transformation. Among others, these challenges include competent workforce shortages and resistance to change.

This study explores the implementation and adoption of emergency information systems across various government agencies, applying the Diffusion of Innovations (DOI) model to assess the public value generated by these technologies. A comprehensive analysis of several projects was conducted to reveal the factors driving the successful adoption and sustained use of innovative technologies in crisis management. The findings indicated that organisations consistently retained these systems beyond the initial emergency phase, signifying their successful diffusion and integration. Agencies reported high confidence in the new systems, citing their effectiveness in meeting critical needs and addressing challenges during crises. The study identified key factors that facilitated successful diffusion, including perceived relative advantage, compatibility with organisational processes, ease of use, and observable stakeholder benefits. Additionally, the research examined multiple dimensions of public value creation, such as enhanced operational efficiency, improved decision-making, greater transparency, and strengthened inter-agency collaboration. By highlighting the significant public value generated by these systems, the study contributes important insights to the growing literature on technology adoption in public sector crisis management and underscores the potential for innovative systems to deliver lasting impacts beyond immediate emergency response.

Inspired by the success of organisations in the private sector, public organisations turned to customer relationship management (CRM) tools to learn about various citizen groups and their particular needs. Recently, AI-driven CRM (also referred to as AI-CRM) has increasingly gained recognition as a revolutionary solution for improving the relationship between organisations and their customers—by automating routines, improving segmentation and prioritisation, providing virtual assistance, and guiding employees. However, various challenges were found to hinder the adoption of the technology and the realisation of the anticipated benefits of AI-CRM in the public sector. This study explores AI-CRM adoption and integration with existing systems at the Ministry of Labour of Israel. Based on the review of the extant literature and in-depth interviews with selected experts in various units, we present the expected results and contributions of the ongoing study.

Digital transformation—the application of emerging technologies to improve organisations’ operations, resulting in new business models (and value propositions)—has attracted the attention of organisations across sectors and industries. Within the public sector, digital transformation enabled by such emerging technologies as artificial intelligence (AI) is gaining recognition as a means of improving effectiveness and efficiency as well as the creation of public value. However, only a few studies have explored the extent to which AI-driven digital transformation contributes to public value creation and the factors determining adoption of the technology in the public sector. The thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews from respondents in Swedish Municipalities reveals three interesting findings—(1) there is a positive but cautious trend in increased AI adoption in the public sector, (2) AI-driven digital transformation has resulted in improved efficiency in process automation and cost-saving but limited holistic public value creation, and (3) technological, organisational, and external or environmental issues hinder the adoption of AI in the public sector.

Digital transformation, which refers to an organisation-wide change and adoption of emerging technologies, has become a mega trend capturing the attention of practitioners and researchers across disciplines. From practitioners’ point of view, digital transformation has improved organisational performance, primarily due to increased efficiency and effectiveness. Even though private and commercial organisations seem to have embarked on the digital transformation journey early, evidence suggests that public organisations are catching up steadily. However, digital transformation research is still dominated by those investigating the phenomenon within the private sector. Given the contextual differences between the sectors and the dearth of literature covering the public organisations settings, this study explores the antecedents of digital transformation in the public sector. Based on the synthesis of a systematic literature review of 13 articles and 17 interviews from four public organisations, we proposed a theoretical model conceptualising a relationship between seven constructs (i.e., digital transformation, IT alignment, organisational agility, information security, organisational structure, organisational culture, and stakeholder relationships). PLS-SEM analysis was performed to test the theoretical model with data collected from 364 respondents using an online questionnaire. The contribution to research and practice is presented.

While prior studies extensively explored digital transformation in for-profit and relatively well in public organisations, the challenges non-profit organisations (NPOs) face remain under-investigated. This study attempts to bridge this gap by conducting a review of the extant literature and an exploratory case study in one NPO in Sweden. Semi-structured interviews and internal documents were used to collect data. The thematic analysis resulted in a taxonomy of barriers presented under eight categories covering internal organisational settings and external environments, grounded in recent digital transformation frameworks. The thirty-two barriers (i.e., fifteen newly identified and seventeen confirmed from prior studies) highlight the significant challenges unique to the non-profit sector. The findings provide a foundation for further research exploring the relationships between the identified barriers and digital transformation processes within the context of NPOs. Moreover, practitioners can leverage these insights to inform the formulation of effective planning and execution of their digital transformation initiatives.

Decentralisation, a public governance model known for its potential to enhance efficiency and public value creation, can be facilitated through digital transformation, particularly by making use of blockchain technology. Research in the information systems and public administration domains has shown that blockchain’s distributed ledger systems enable transparent, tamper-resistant record-keeping and automated processes via smart contracts, reducing the need for centralised control. However, despite its promises, the adoption of blockchain in public organisations has been slow, with empirical studies yielding mixed results regarding its impact on organisational performance. This study investigated to explore whether blockchain-enabled digital transformation can facilitate decentralised public governance and subsequently improve organisational performance. Employing a mixed-methods research strategy—literature review, case study, and survey—the paper identifies and ranks critical factors that influence the relationship between blockchain-driven digital transformation and organisational performance.

The shift from traditional businesses to digitally enabled organisations has made information the most valuable asset for SMEs, which, in turn, has made cyber security management a primary concern. This study explores the cybersecurity management practices in Thai SMEs and the factors determining the adoption of common cybersecurity frameworks and controls. The study applied a mixed-method research strategy with qualitative and quantitative data collection methods (in-depth interviews with experts, and an online survey of 75 SMEs). The preliminary findings indicate that SMEs in Thailand practice various cybersecurity controls but refrain from adopting cybersecurity standards or frameworks, such as ISO2700X series, NIST, and PCI DSS. On the other hand, SMEs seem to comply with national laws, including Thailand’s PDPA, Computer Crime Act, and Personal Information Act. A further analysis indicates that the lack of financial resources, tools and expertise were the main reasons for not adopting common frameworks and controls among SMEs.

Decentralisation, also referred to as administrative decentralisation, has gained wide recognition as a governance model associated with efficient use of resources and innovative public service delivery. Thus, it is no surprise that many unitary countries and transnational governments have embraced this public governance model. Most recently, the discourse on decentralisation of public governance has become intertwined with digital transformation within the public sector. The rationale is that digital transformation was found to support the decentralisation of public governance, improving overall organisational efficiency and the creation of added public value for citizens. Based on a systematic literature review and fifteen semi-structured interviews with public sector experts, the paper discusses how digital transformation enables the decentralisation of public governance. Digital transformation supports public organisations’ efforts to gain the most out of public governance decentralisation as it improves the efficiency of local and federal governments, citizen participation, citizen empowerment, public trust, and continuance of public administration.