Investigating change management based on participation and acceptance of IT in the public sector: A mixed research study

Abstract

The digitalization of public administrations faces big challenges regarding employees’ acceptance of IT. Change management approaches based on participation should help achieving acceptance and success of IT projects in the public sector. The research investigated how participation methods can be integrated into change management and which effects participation has on the acceptance of the introduced system in this sector. The authors followed a mixed research approach and conducted a quantitative and a qualitative study within public administrations and ministries in two states in Germany. The findings reveal that employees’ participation in the form of information, communication, training, support, and active participation as well as the role of managers all have a significant positive relationship with employees’ attitudes towards IT. Furthermore, they identified four key aspects of applying change-management based on employee participation in IT-projects, which they recommend to consider when implementing IT projects in the public sector in the future.