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Changing the Gameplay: Digitization and the Public Servant

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The Palgrave Handbook of the Public Servant

Abstract

The advent of modern information and communication technologies has over the years been affecting the work life of public servants. Based on existing bodies of academic literature, this chapter addresses five relationships between the civil servant and the process of digitization: (a) citizens and customers, (b) the private sector, (c) work processes and organizational culture, (d) public values, and (e) data analytics and big data. Contrary to much speculation, the role of the civil servant in the relationships with a number of digitization themes is hardly as transformative as some practitioners, politicians, and academics want us to believe. Furthermore, digitization is often simplified as a panacea for all the challenges the public sector is encountering. While we have witnessed, and will see in the future, various improvements, it is important to bear in mind that there is always a trade-off between the public values involved.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Government, Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand

    Karl Löfgren

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  1. Karl Löfgren
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Correspondence to Karl Löfgren .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University, Acton, ACT, Australia

    Helen Sullivan

  2. UNSW Australia, Campbell, ACT, Australia

    Helen Dickinson

  3. College of Asia and the Pacific, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia

    Hayley Henderson

Section Editor information

  1. University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia

    Gemma Carey

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Löfgren, K. (2020). Changing the Gameplay: Digitization and the Public Servant. In: Sullivan, H., Dickinson, H., Henderson, H. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of the Public Servant. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-03008-7_58-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-03008-7_58-1

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  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-03008-7

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