Towards a Data-Driven Public Administration: An Empirical Analysis of Nascent Phase Implementation

Authors

  • Heather Broomfield Department of Public and International Law, University of Oslo, Norway
  • Lisa Reutter Department of Sociology and Political Science, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Norway

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.58235/sjpa.v25i2.7117

Keywords:

public administration reform, data-driven, artificial intelligence, policy implementation, unseen issues

Abstract

This paper aims to demystify the concept of data-driven public administration and lay bare the complexity involved in its implementation. It asks the overall research question of what challenges are encountered and problematised in a nascent phase of data-driven public administration implementation. The analysis is based on a multi-method research design, including a survey, follow-up interviews with practitioners and an analysis of key policy documents in the context of the Norwegian public sector. It highlights areas of both discrepancy and harmony between what has been prioritised at the policy level and the reality of implementation on the ground. In addition, unseen issues are discussed in order to broaden this perspective. Data-driven administrative reform touches upon everything from organisational culture to technical infrastructure and legal and regulatory frameworks. The complexity laid out in the analysis thus has implications for theory and practice. Nordic countries provide an interesting object of investigation, as they hold vast amounts of data and are highly digitalised, yet, in common with many other governments, they are still in a nascent phase of implementation. This paper should therefore be relevant to other jurisdictions and it provides a call to arms for civil servants and public administration scholars to engage more deeply in this phenomenon.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biographies

Heather Broomfield, Department of Public and International Law, University of Oslo, Norway

Heather Broomfield is a PhD candidate at the University of Oslo, Department of Public and International law. She is also a senior advisor at the Norwegian Digitalisation Agency. Heather is researching the framing and governance of a datafied public sector.

Lisa Reutter, Department of Sociology and Political Science, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Norway

Lisa Reutter is a PhD candidate at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, department of sociology and political science, researching the datafication of the public administration. Lisa is associated with the interdisciplinary research project Digital Infrastructures and Citizen Empowerment (DICE). Her research is located at the intersection between the fields of public administration research, sociology and science and technology studies.

Downloads

Published

2021-06-15

How to Cite

Broomfield, H., & Reutter, L. (2021). Towards a Data-Driven Public Administration: An Empirical Analysis of Nascent Phase Implementation. Scandinavian Journal of Public Administration, 25(2), 73–97. https://doi.org/10.58235/sjpa.v25i2.7117

Issue

Section

Original Articles

Similar Articles

<< < 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 > >> 

You may also start an advanced similarity search for this article.