Automation as a Driver of Digital Transformation in Local Government: Exploring Stakeholder Views on an Automation Initiative in a Swedish Municipality

Abstract

Local government organizations in Sweden are under pressure from policy makers and leading politicians to accelerate digital transformation of administrative tasks, in order to make public service provision more efficient and effective. As part of this digital transformation, local governments are currently investigating and implementing digital technologies that can execute administrative tasks automatically, without involvement of administrative staff. We explore an automation initiative in a Swedish municipality using a qualitative case study. Our analysis is conducted from a stakeholder perspective, investigating (1) how different stakeholders interpret automation as part of the municipality's ongoing digitalization, and (2) their views on expected outcomes of automation of administrative tasks. Our analysis shows that different stakeholder groups hold different definitions of what digitalization and automation means for their organization, and what outcomes can be expected of automation of administrative tasks in their organization. The analysis further shows that national policy documents encourage local governments to use a specific technical solutions for automation (robotic process automation); however, this technology is viewed as somewhat problematic by the stakeholders working with IT in the organization. Our analysis contributes with an illustration of challenges that municipalities face in their endeavor to find ways of developing automation of administrative tasks, and call for further research on this topic.