Digital transformation success in the public sector: A systematic literature review of cases,processes,and success factors

Abstract

This study conducts a systematic literature review on several aspects regarding the success of initiatives of digital transformation in the public sector (DTPS), focusing on case studies, processes, and success factors of the DTPS projects. The research was carried out using several scientific databases and indexers (such as ACM Digital Library, IEEE Xplore, and ISI Web of Science). The literature review process enabled the identification of a total of 38 case studies, four processes, and 51 success factors, all of which are presented and discussed, contributing both to theory and practice, to minimizing risks and improving the success of DTPS projects. The review process also enabled the identification of new research avenues.

Keywords

Digital transformation public sector e-Gov e-Government digital government smart government case study process success factor

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Agarwal

Thakur

, & Chauhan

(2017). Enterprise Architecture for E-Government. Proceedings of the 10th International Conference on Theory and Practice of Electronic Governance, 47-55. doi: 10.1145/3047273.3047330.

Al-Shuaili

Ali

Jaharadak

A. A.

, & Al-Shekly

(2019). An Investigate on the Critical Factors that can Affect the Implementation of E-government in Oman. 2019 IEEE 15th International Colloquium on Signal Processing Its Applications (CSPA), pp. 75-79. doi: 10.1109/CSPA.2019.8695988.

Almukhlifi

Deng

, & Kam

(2019). Critical Factors for the Adoption of E-Government in Developing Countries: Validation of a Measurement Model. Proceedings of the 12th International Conference on Theory and Practice of Electronic Governance, 397-407. doi: 10.1145/3326365.3326418.

Anand

, & Khemchandani

(2019). Study of e-governance in India: a survey. International Journal of Electronic Security and Digital Forensics, 11(2), 119-144. doi: 10.1504/IJESDF.2019.098729.

Avila-Maravilla

M. A.

, & Luna-Reyes

L. F.

(2018). Institutional Arrangements in Digital Government Success: The Case of State Government Web Portals in Mexico. Proceedings of the 11th International Conference on Theory and Practice of Electronic Governance, 73-80. doi: 10.1145/3209415.3209480.

Avramchikova

N. T.

Proskurnin

S. D.

Erigina

V, L.

, & Chuvashova

M. N.

(2019). Digital Transformation of Monotowns: Prospects and Opportunities. 4th International Conference on Education Science and Development (ICESD 2019).

Ayquipa

R. A. R.

Enriquez

H. R.

Huayllani

W. J. A.

Mezarina

Z. H. A.

, & Cabrera

M. J. I.

(2019). Challenges in the Implementation of E-Government for Public Institutions in Peru. Proceedings of the 10th International Conference on E-Education, E-Business, E-Management and E-Learning, 347-351. doi: 10.1145/3306500.3306572.

Barcevičius

Cibaitė

Codagnone

Gineikytė

Klimavičiūtė

Liva

Matulevič

Misuraca

, & Vanini

(2019). Exploring Digital Government transformation in the EU – Analysis of the state of the art and review of literature. In Publications Office of the European Union. doi: 10.2760/17207.

Bleicher

, & Stanley

(2017). Digitization as a Catalyst for Business Model Innovation a Three-Step Approach to Facilitating Economic Success. Journal of Business Management, 4(12), 62-71.

10.

Cahlikova

(2017). The uptake of e-Democracy and e-Participation in the Swiss Federal administration. 2017 Fourth International Conference on EDemocracy EGovernment (ICEDEG), 182-188. doi: 10.1109/ICEDEG.2017.7962531.

11.

Carrasqueiro

Monteiro

M. H.

Pereira

, & Martins

(2018). Dematerialization of the Medical Certificate for Driving License in Portugal: A Case Study of Success Factors of Whole-of-Government e-Government Initiatives. Proceedings of the 11th International Conference on Theory and Practice of Electronic Governance, 127-132. doi: 10.1145/3209415.3209510.

12.

Carrillo

J. C.

Jimenez-Gomez

C. E.

, & Falcone

(2017). Investigating a Two Headed Monster: E-Government: Crossing over from Electronic Era to Digital Revolution. SIGCAS Comput Soc, 46(4), 12-17. doi: 10.1145/3040489.3040492.

13.

Carrizo

, & Rojas

(2018). Methodologies, techniques and tools in requirements engineering: a systematic mapping. Ingeniare. Revista Chilena de Ingeniería, 26(3), 473-485. doi: 10.4067/S0718-33052018000300473.

14.

Choi

Kim

, & Ha

(2016). A Stabilization Model for E-Government Innovation. 2016 49th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS), 3011-3020. doi: 10.1109/HICSS.2016.378.

15.

Clarke

(2020). Digital Government Units: What Are They, and What Do They Mean for Digital Era Public Management Renewal? International Public Management Journal, 23(3), 358-379. doi: 10.1080/10967494.2019.1686447.

16.

Concha

Astudillo

Porrua

, & Pimenta

(2012). E-Government procurement observatory, maturity model and early measurements. Government Information Quarterly, 29, S43-S50.

17.

Costa

(2020). Introdução. In Reconstrução do Brasil pela Transformação Digital no Setor Público,(1st ed., pp. 37-57. IBGP.

18.

Defriani

, & Resmi

M. G.

(2019). E-Government Architectural Planning Using Federal Enterprise Architecture Framework in Purwakarta Districts Government. 2019 Fourth International Conference on Informatics and Computing (ICIC), 1-9. doi: 10.1109/ICIC47613.2019.8985819.

19.

dos Santos

R. A.

Vieira

Bravo

Suzuki

, & Qudah

(2021). A systematic mapping study on the employment of neural networks on software engineering projects: Where to go next? Journal of Software: Evolution and Process, e2402, 1-17. doi: 10.1002/smr.2402.

20.

Enaw

E. E.

Check

, & Teke

M. P.

(2016). Organisational Framework for E-Government Development in Sub-Saharan Africa. Proceedings of the 9th International Conference on Theory and Practice of Electronic Governance, 352-355. doi: 10.1145/2910019.2910021.

21.

Fajar Surya

G. S.

, & Amalia

(2017). The critical success factors model for e-Government implementation in Indonesia. 5th International Conference on Information and Communication Technology (ICoIC7), 1-5. doi: 10.1109/ICoICT.2017.8074711.

22.

Filgueiras

Cireno

, & Palotti

(2019). Digital Transformation and Public Service Delivery in Brazil. Latin American Policy, 10(2), 195-219. doi: 10.1111/lamp.12169.

23.

Fitzgerald

Kruschwitz

Bonnet

, & Welch

(2014). Embracing digital technology: A new strategic imperative. MIT Sloan Management Review, 55(2), 1-12.

24.

Hackney

R. A.

, & McBride

N. K.

(1995). The efficacy of information systems in the public sector: Issues of context and culture. International Journal of Public Sector Management, 8(6), 17-29.

25.

Hatsu

, & Ngassam

E. K.

(2017). An integrated framework for benchmarking e-government projects. 2017 IST-Africa Week Conference (IST-Africa), 1-9. doi: 10.23919/ISTAFRICA.2017.8102412.

26.

Ivančić

Vukšić

V. B.

, & Spremić

(2019). Mastering the digital transformation process: Business practices and lessons learned. Technology Innovation Management Review, 9(2), 36-50.

27.

Ivanova

Poltarykhin

Szromnik

, & Aniehkina

(2019). Economic policy for country’s digitalization: a case study. Entrepreneurship and Sustainability Issues, 7(1), 649-661. doi: 10.9770/jesi.2019.7.1(46).

28.

Jonathan

G. M.

(2019). Digital transformation in the public sector: Identifying critical success factors. European, Mediterranean, and Middle Eastern Conference on Information Systems, 223-235.

29.

Kaya

Sagsan

Medeni

, & Yildiz

(2020). Qualitative analysis to determine decision-makers’ attitudes towards e-government services in a De-Facto state. Journal of Information, Communication and Ethics in Society, 18(4), 609-629. doi: 10.1108/JICES-05-2019-0052.

30.

Kim

B. J.

K.-T.

Han

B.-H.

Park

S.-J.

, & Lyu

H.-S.

(2016). Why Digital Government Not E-Government? The Paradigm Shift of D.Gov in Korea. Proceedings of the 17th International Digital Government Research Conference on Digital Government Research, 530-531. doi: 10.1145/2912160.2912233.

31.

Kitchenham

B. A.

, & Charters

(2007). Guidelines for performing Systematic Literature Reviews in Software Engineering. In Technical Report EBSE-2007-01, School of Computer Science and Mathematics, Keele University.

32.

Klievink

, & Janssen

(2009). Realizing joined-up government – Dynamic capabilities and stage models for transformation. Government Information Quarterly, 26(2), 275-284.

33.

Kokkinakos

Markaki

Koussouris

, & Psarras

(2016). Digital transformation: Is public sector following the enterprise 2.0 paradigm? Communications in Computer and Information Science, 674, 96-105. doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-49700-6_11.

34.

Kompella

(2019). Digital Innovation in the Public Sector: The Role of Embeddedness in Socio-Technical Transitions. International Journal of Innovation and Technology Management, 16(7). doi: 10.1142/S0219877019500597.

35.

Lappi

T. M.

Aaltonen

, & Kujala

(2019). Project governance and portfolio management in government digitalization. Transforming Government: People, Process and Policy, 13(2), 159-196. doi: 10.1108/TG-11-2018-0068.

36.

Lessa

(2019). Sustainability Framework for E-Government Success: Feasibility Assessment. Proceedings of the 12th International Conference on Theory and Practice of Electronic Governance, 231-239. doi: 10.1145/3326365.3326396.

37.

Lessa

, & Tsegaye

(2019). Evaluation of the Public Value of E-Government Services in Ethiopia: Case of Court Case Management System. Proceedings of the 12th International Conference on Theory and Practice of Electronic Governance, 21-26. doi: 10.1145/3326365.3326369.

38.

Lindgren

, & van Veenstra

A. F.

(2018). Digital Government Transformation: A Case Illustrating Public e-Service Development As Part of Public Sector Transformation. Proceedings of the 19th Annual International Conference on Digital Government Research, Article 38. doi: 10.1145/3209281.3209302.

39.

M Al-Eidan

Al-Khalifa

, & Al-Salman

(2020). Deep-Learning-Based Models for Pain Recognition: A Systematic Review. Applied Sciences, 10(17), 5984.

40.

Madsen

C. O.

, & Kraemmergaard

(2016). How to Succeed with Multichannel Management: A Case Study of Cross-Organizational Collaboration Surrounding a Mandatory Self-Service Application for Danish Single Parents. International Journal of Public Administration in the Digital Age (IJPADA), 3(4), 94-110. doi: 10.4018/IJPADA.2016100107.

41.

Mahmood

(2016). Enhancing Citizens’ Trust and Confidence in Government through Digital Transformation. International Journal of Electronic Government Research (IJEGR), 12(1), 99-110. doi: 10.4018/IJEGR.2016010105.

42.

Marino

, & Pariso

(2019). E-Government and Its Impact on National Economic Development: A Case Study Concerning Southern Italy. Proceedings of the 2019 3rd International Conference on E-Commerce, E-Business and E-Government, 1-4. doi: 10.1145/3340017.3342242.

43.

Marzooqi

Al, Nuaimi

& Al Qirim

. (2017). E-governance (G2C) in the Public Sector: Citizens Acceptance to E-government Systems – Dubai’s Case. Proceedings of the Second International Conference on Internet of Things, Data and Cloud Computing, 112, 1-11. doi: 10.1145/3018896.3025160.

44.

Mayakul

Sa-Nga-Ngam

Srisawat

, & Kiattisin

(2019). A Comparison of National Enterprise Architecture and e-Government Perspectives. 2019 4th Technology Innovation Management and Engineering Science International Conference (TIMES-ICON), 1-6. doi: 10.1109/TIMES-iCON47539.2019.9024591.

45.

McBride

(2019). Sailing towards digitalization when it doesn’t make cents? Analysing the Faroe Islands’ new digital governance trajectory. Island Studies Journal, 14(2), 193–214. doi: 10.24043/isj.93.

46.

Mergel

Edelmann

, & Haug

(2019). Defining digital transformation: Results from expert interviews. Government Information Quarterly, 36(4), Article 101385. doi: 10.1016/j.giq.2019.06.002.

47.

Meyerhoff Nielsen

(2019). Governance Lessons from Denmark’s Digital Transformation. Proceedings of the 20th Annual International Conference on Digital Government Research, 456-461. doi: 10.1145/3325112.3329881.

48.

Morakanyane

Grace

A. A.

, & O’Reilly

(2017). Conceptualizing Digital Transformation in Business Organizations: A Systematic Review of Literature. 30th Bled Conference: Digital Transformation – from Connecting Things to Transforming Our Lives, 427-443. doi: 10.18690/978-961-286-043-1.30.

49.

Morgeson,

F. V.

, III. VanAmburg

, & Mithas

(2011). Misplaced trust? Exploring the structure of the e-government-citizen trust relationship. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 21(2), 257-283.

50.

Müller

P. A.

Gil-Garcia

J. R.

, & Tirelli

(2018). The Impact of Political, Technological and Social Variables on the Development of Local E-Government: Lessons from Brazil. Proceedings of the 11th International Conference on Theory and Practice of Electronic Governance, 288-297. doi: 10.1145/3209415.3209440.

51.

Nerurkar

, & Das

(2017a). Agile Project Management in Large Scale Digital Transformation Projects in Government and Public Sector: A Case Study of DILRMP Project. Proceedings of the 10th International Conference on Theory and Practice of Electronic Governance, 580-581. doi: 10.1145/3047273.3047355.

52.

Nerurkar

, & Das

(2017b). Analysis of DILRMP Project: Identifying the Applicability of Agile Project Management for Digital Transformation Projects in Government and Public Sector. Proceedings of the Special Collection on EGovernment Innovations in India, 34-38. doi: 10.1145/3055219.3055242.

53.

Ngonzi

, & Sewchurran

(2019). User-stakeholders’ responsiveness: A necessary input for achieving in e-governance transformation in developing countries. The Electronic Journal of Information Systems in Developing Countries, 85(6), 1-16. doi: 10.1002/isd2.12107.

54.

Nielsen

M. M.

(2016). Digitising a Small Island State: A Lesson in Faroese. Proceedings of the 9th International Conference on Theory and Practice of Electronic Governance, 54-59. doi: 10.1145/2910019.2910042.

55.

Osifo

O. C.

(2018). Examining digital government and public service provision: The case of Finland. 2018 41st International Convention on Information and Communication Technology, Electronics and Microelectronics (MIPRO), 1342-1347. doi: 10.23919/MIPRO.2018.8400242.

56.

Paletti

(2018). How to plan an organisational strategy to manage ICTs mediated co-production: A public value perspective. ACM International Conference Proceeding Series, Article 37, 1-6. doi: 10.1145/3209281.3209285.

57.

Pappel

Tsap

Pappel

, & Draheim

(2019). Exploring e-Services Development in Local Government Authorities by Means of Electronic Document Management Systems. In Chugunov

Misnikov

Roshchin

Trutnev

, eds, Electronic Governance and Open Society: Challenges in Eurasia. EGOSE 2018. Communications in Computer and Information Science, 223-234. doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-13283-5_17.

58.

Pereira

G. V.

Rinnerbauer

Ginner

, & Parycek

(2017). Categorizing Obstacles in E-Government: Formal and Informal. Proceedings of the 10th International Conference on Theory and Practice of Electronic Governance, 157-166. doi: 10.1145/3047273.3047367.

59.

Petticrew

, & Roberts

(2008). Systematic reviews in the social sciences: A practical guide. John Wiley & Sons.

60.

Prakash

, & Gunalan

(2019). Accelerating Government Digital Transformation in India: A Case Study. In BenDhaou

Carter

Gregory

, eds, Proceedings of the 12th International Conference on Theory and Practice of Electronic Governance (ICEGOV 2019), 468-469. doi: 10.1145/3326365.3326428.

61.

Probst

Pedersen

Lonkeu

O.-K.

Martinez-Diaz

Araujo

L. N.

Klitou

Conrads

, & Rasmussen

(2017). Digital Transformation Scoreboard 2017: Evidence of positive outcomes and current opportunities for EU businesses. In The European Commission.

62.

Putri

J. K.

, & Sensuse

D. I.

(2018). Obstacle Factor Analysis of E-Government Implementation at the Ministry of Tourism. 2018 International Conference on Advanced Computer Science and Information Systems (ICACSIS), 57-62. doi: 10.1109/ICACSIS.2018.8618165.

63.

Rabaiah

, & Vandijct

(2011). A Strategic Framework of e-Government: Generic and best Practice. In Leading Issues in E-Government Research, Academic Publishing International Ltd.

64.

Rakotonirina

, & Raoelson

(2018). E-Government: Factor of Public Administration Efficiency and Effectiveness. Case of the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research in Madagascar. Proceedings of the 11th International Conference on Theory and Practice of Electronic Governance, 165-174. doi: 10.1145/3209415.3209432.

65.

Rammea

, & Grobbelaar

S. S. S.

(2017). The evaluation of e-government implementation: A case study of the Lesotho Company Registry System. 2017 IEEE AFRICON, 504-511. doi: 10.1109/AFRCON.2017.8095533.

66.

Reascos

Carvalho

J. A.

, & Bossano

(2019). Implanting IT Applications in Government Institutions: A Process Model Emerging from a Case Study in a Medium-Sized Municipality. Proceedings of the 12th International Conference on Theory and Practice of Electronic Governance (ICEGOV2019), 80-85. doi: 10.1145/3326365.3326376.

67.

Ben Rehouma

, & Hofmann

(2018). Government Employees’ Adoption of Information Technology: A Literature Review. Proceedings of the 19th Annual International Conference on Digital Government Research: Governance in the Data Age, Article 43, 1-10. doi: 10.1145/3209281.3209311.

68.

Renteria

Gil-Garcia

J. R.

, & Pardo

T. A.

(2019). Toward an Enabler-Based Digital Government Maturity Framework: A Preliminary Proposal Based on Theories of Change. Proceedings of the 12th International Conference on Theory and Practice of Electronic Governance, 408-417. doi: 10.1145/3326365.3326419.

69.

Rogers

D. L.

(2016). The digital transformation playbook: Rethink your business for the digital age. Columbia University Press.

70.

Roy

J. P.

(2019). Service, Openness and Engagement as Digitally-Based Enablers of Public Value? A Critical Examination of Digital Government in Canada. International Journal of Public Administration in the Digital Age (IJPADA), 6(3), 23-40. doi: 10.4018/IJPADA.2019070102.

71.

Sangolt

M. S.

, & Keitsch

(2016). Service Design in Digitization of Governmental Services. In Boks

Sigurjonsson

Steinert

Vis

Wulvik

(Ed.), Proceedings of NordDesign 2016, 12-21.

72.

Schedler

Guenduez

A. A.

, & Frischknecht

(2019). How smart can government be? Exploring barriers to the adoption of smart government. Information Polity, 24(1), 3-20. doi: 10.3233/IP-180095.

73.

Scupola

(2018). A Case Study of Digital Transformation of Danish Public Services: Actors and Policies. 2018 11th CMI International Conference: Prospects and Challenges Towards Developing a Digital Economy within the EU, 14-18. doi: 10.1109/PCTDDE.2018.8624818.

74.

Shin

S.-C.

, & Rakhmatullayev

Z. M.

(2019). Digital Transformation of the Public Service Delivery System in Uzbekistan. 2019 21st International Conference on Advanced Communication Technology (ICACT), 703-709. doi: 10.23919/ICACT.2019.8702014.

75.

Singh

Kar

A. K.

, & Ilavarasan

P. V.

(2017). Assessment of E-Governance Projects: An Integrated Framework and Its Validation. Proceedings of the Special Collection on EGovernment Innovations in India, 124-133. doi: 10.1145/3055219.3055228.

76.

Sundberg

(2018). Enablers for Interoperability in Decentralized e-Government Settings. Proceedings of the 19th Annual International Conference on Digital Government Research: Governance in the Data Age, Article 29, 1-8. doi: 10.1145/3209281.3209303.

77.

Tabrizi

Lam

Girard

, & Irvin

(2019). Digital transformation is not about technology, Harvard Business Review, 13, 1-6.

78.

Tambotoh

J. J. C.

Kosala

Ranti

Prabowo

Supangkat

S. H.

Isa

S. M.

, & Pudjianto

B. W.

(2017). A conceptual model for creating effective public value through key practices in information technology governance mechanisms, 2017 International Conference on Information Management and Technology (ICIMTech), 128-132. doi: 10.1109/ICIMTech.2017.8273524.

79.

Tchao

E. T.

Keelson

Aggor

, & Amankwa

G. A. M.

(2017). e-Government Services in Ghana – Current State and Future Perspective. 2017 International Conference on Computational Science and Computational Intelligence (CSCI), 624-631. doi: 10.1109/CSCI.2017.108.

80.

Tolbert

C. J.

, & Mossberger

(2006). The effects of e-government on trust and confidence in government, Public Administration Review, 66(3), 354-369.

81.

Torres

Pina

, & Royo

(2005). E-government and the transformation of public administrations in EU countries: Beyond NPM or just a second wave of reforms? Online Information Review.

82.

Varajão

(2018). The many facets of information systems (+projects) success. International Journal of Information Systems and Project Management, 6(4), 5-13. doi: 10.12821/ijispm060401.

83.

Williams

, & Valayer

(2018). Digital government benchmark. Study on digital government transformation. Joint Research Centre, European Commission, 2010-2018.