The use of ICT by local general administrative authorities during COVID-19 for a sustainable future : comparing five European countries

Aristovnik, Aleksander (author), Kovač, Polonca (author), Murko, Eva (author), Ravšelj, Dejan (author), Umek, Lan (author), Tomaževič, Nina (author)

The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly reshaped administrative relations and put emphasis on the digital transformation of public administration that is urgently needed to support a sustainable recovery from the pandemic crisis and future sustainable development in the post-pandemic era. This paper presents a comparative study on the ways the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic impacted general administrative authorities on the local level with respect to various aspects of their functioning and digitalization in five European countries. With a sample of 926 respondents from the Czech Republic, Germany, Poland, Romania, and Slovenia, the study shows that the pandemic-imposed changes are very similar in these countries. The results reveal that, except for Germany, the biggest problems of pandemic-related regulations are their obscurity. For all countries under study, parties to the procedures are shown to be the main driver of digitalization and not the public administration itself, generally lagging behind in this sense. Nevertheless, the pandemic has also created several potential opportunities, whereby public managers, especially in Germany, have acknowledged the importance of digitalization right after the protection of health, as confirmed by the wider use of ICT equipment, particularly in Germany and the Czech Republic. Moreover, Germany and Romania exhibit the greatest potential to accelerate digitalization. Finally, the critical factors influencing accelerated digitalization after the pandemic are also identified. The paper's evidence-based findings could prove useful while formulating recommendations for the sustainable practices of public administrations during this and any future pandemic crisis.

• Language: English
• Keywords: digitalization, public administration, public managers, public servants, COVID-19, sustainability, European Union
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: FU - Faculty of Administration
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Year: 2021
• Number of pages: 20 str.
• Numbering: Vol. 13, iss. 21, art. 11765
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-136445
• UDC: 332.146.2:616-036.22:352(0.034.2)
• ISSN on article: 2071-1050
• DOI: 10.3390/su132111765
• COBISS.SI-ID: 82625283
• Publication date in RUL: 04.05.2022

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Sustainability
• Shortened title: Sustainability
• Publisher: MDPI
• ISSN: 2071-1050
• COBISS.SI-ID: 5324897

Licences

• License: CC BY 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• Description: This is the standard Creative Commons license that gives others maximum freedom to do what they want with the work as long as they credit the author.
• Licensing start date: 01.11.2021

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Keywords: digitalizacija, javna uprava, javni upravitelji, uradniki, COVID-19, trajnostni razvoj, Evropska unija

Projects

• Funder: ARRS - Slovenian Research Agency
• Project number: P5-0093
• Name: Razvoj sistema učinkovite in uspešne javne uprave

• Funder: ARRS - Slovenian Research Agency
• Project number: J5-1789
• Name: Spremembe upravljanja in izvajanja storitev javne uprave v dobi digitalizacije