Abstract
Digital transformation has the potential to profoundly change the way public administrations deliver public services to its users. One of the challenges involved in the inter-organizational networks that often govern integrated digital services is to identify what coordination instruments are effective. In this paper we examine this issue through a case study that deals with the transformation of invoicing services in Belgian public administrations at the federal and Flemish (regional) level. We review the coordination instruments and study how they evolved over time. Our findings suggest that transformation (1) might in part depend on the choice of instruments and multiple mechanisms. The mix of appropriate coordination instruments is likely to change as digital transformation objectives and governance challenges evolve over time. (2) Digital transformation might be a step-by-step process involving multiple rounds of digitalization and its specific implementation contingent on the service itself.
Highlights
Public administrations are increasingly developing new inter-organizational public services with goals characterized in terms of digital transformation
Each life event or business situation encompasses multiple public services delivered by multiple public sector organizations that are focused on a single event or situation, such as the birth of a child, retiring, or starting a business
Our results suggest how achieving digital transformation might be conceived as a step-bystep process: one that is not just about applying best practices or merely solving technical challenges, but how it fundamentally relies on the capacity to choose and apply instruments from multiple appropriate coordination mechanisms and change this mix as governance challenges and objectives evolve
Summary
Public administrations are increasingly developing new inter-organizational public services with goals characterized in terms of digital transformation. Efforts to enact digital transformation in public service delivery have led to a multitude of inter-organizational collaborations (Chen, Hu, Tseng, Juang & Chang, 2019; Fountain, 2001; Kattel, Lember & Tõnurist, 2019). Effective collaboration to bring about digital transformation requires governance (Klievink, Bharosa & Tan, 2016; Pardo, Gil-Garcia & Luna-Reyes, 2010). This governance is and remains a central issue for public administrations (Chen, 2010; Hilvert & Swindel, 2013). Olivier Berthod and Federica Segato (2019, p. 225) note that there is a need to better comprehend how governance change takes place over time
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