Digitally-enabled service transformation in the public sector: The lure of institutional pressure and strategic response towards change

Abstract

Digitally-Enabled Service Transformation (DEST) projects in public sector institutions are viewed as a choice of strategic response towards changes in policy. Such transformation can destruct institutional stability and legitimacy and result in failure if the complex institutional setting of the public sector is not comprehended in the change-institutionalisation effort. Through a multiple case enquiry, this study examines how institutional pressures contribute towards the emergence of DEST in public agencies and how newly introduced transformation is implemented and diffused within the institutional setting. The findings highlight that as a form of technology driven change, DEST is characterised and shaped dominantly by continuous interplay with institutional elements and the impact of these interactions define the institutionalisation, deinstitutionalisation and re-institutionalisation of DEST. Ability to recognise such stages and provide the required support will determine a public institution's ability to effectively manage DEST and attain its strategic goals.