Digital Transformation at the Local Tier of Government in Europe: Dynamics and Effects from a Cross-Countries and Over-Time Comparative Perspective (DIGILOG)

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Digital transformation constitutes one of the most important megatrends for the public sector. Most recently, the COVID-19 pandemic has shown the importance of a digital administration. In many countries, local government is the most significant tier of public service delivery, ensuring proximity to citizens. Against this background, it is a matter of concern that in current comparative research concerning the digital transformation of state and administration, local levels of government have been insufficiently investigated. Indeed, there is no systematic, cross-countries comparative knowledge available regarding the state of implementation and the effects of digital transformation at local government level in Europe. This collaborative research project is intended to remedy those deficits.Its first research question addresses the dynamics (scale and pace) of digital transformation in European local government, i.e., to what extent there has been radical/rapid revolutionary or gradual/slow evolutionary change and how and why these dynamics differ from a cross-country and inter-municipal perspective.The second research question addresses the (un-)intended effects of digitalization in terms of outputs (service delivery, organization, processes, human resources), outcomes (performance, accountability), and impacts (citizens’ acceptance, governance, new cleavages). The independent variables include explanatory factors on the macro-level (institutional properties of the local government systems), meso-level (internal organizational arrangements and procedures), and micro-level (actor strategies, interests, motives).The project will generate coherent data for a systematic comparison using methodological triangulation. It will take the form of a regular and automated quantitative survey of all local authorities in 47 European countries (members of the Council of Europe), based on web crawling and machine learning techniques - this is novel in its application for the social sciences -, and qualitative research, namely case studies in selected European countries.Renowned scholars from the University of Potsdam, ZHAW, and the WU Vienna, with extensive experience in local government and comparative research, form the consortium.Key deliverables of the project will be an openly accessible monitoring platform, journal articles, an edited volume, and publications for practitioners. The real-time platform is accessible to researchers and practitioners worldwide and contributes to a better understanding of long-term developments. The duration of the project being submitted to the SNSF/DFG is three years; however, by automating the process, the real-time platform will continue to exist and be updated regularly beyond this timeframe. The research project will yield policy-relevant knowledge concerning local digitalization measures from a European perspective, which can then be utilized to improve policymaking for future public sector modernization.