Municipal Digital Transformation in the Fast Lane? Changes in German Municipalities due to Covid-19

The start of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020 changed life as we know it in many ways. Many organizations, including municipalities, were forced to implement the government’s new pandemic regulations and digitally map municipal processes in a short period of time. We conducted a case study over a 16-month period (subdivided into three phases) to examine the changes in municipalities. In doing so, we compared and evaluated the changes in the municipal fields of action with the digital transformation plans (pre-Covid). The findings show that changes have taken place in many fields of action, most of them in Administration, Education, People and Health. It is remarkable that some changes only started at a certain phase, like building competences, and others showed a continuous change, like IT-equipment. Finally, completely new measures have appeared in addition to a more intensive design of the digital transformation measures that were actually planned

Dark Desires? Using the Theory of Basic Desires to Better Understand Toxic Behavior in Multiplayer Online Games

Within the context of multiplayer online battle arena video games (MOBAs) toxic behavior (TB) remains a complex and yet unsolved socio-technological challenge. While significant work has been done recently, there is a lack of theory-guided approaches for curbing TB. In this work, we test the motivational theory of basic desires for explaining the occurrence of TB. For this, we used a survey approach and collected a sample consisting of players of the successful MOBAs League of Legends and Dota 2 (n = 308). Using a PCA, results indicate two underlying factors of the 16 basic desires (i.e., physiological and social factors). Consequently, both factors hold the potential to explain TB. In addition, the predisposition age showed a significant influence on TB in our sample. These findings highlight the 16 basic desires as a promising frame for understanding the antecedents of TB

Exploring Citizens’ Adoption of Sustainable Innovations Implemented by Cities and Municipalities: A Research Agenda

Sustainability and environmental friendliness are increasingly becoming the focus of society. Cities and municipalities are also taking up these issues and integrating them into everyday life. To further advance sustainability in Germany and to strengthen activities that have already been implemented, sustainable lighthouse projects in German cities/municipalities have been awarded since 2012. Despite many administrations’ efforts to make their cities/municipalities more sustainable, citizens lack awareness and knowledge about their investments. Against the background that the implemented sustainability activities offer added value for citizens and their life in the city/municipality, it is of course of administrations’ interest that its financial investments are worthwhile and consciously perceived by society. In this regard, we look at activities for sustainable innovation from both, the citizen and public administration perspective. Based on this, we present our research agenda looking at how sustainable innovation disseminate across the society by adapting key concepts of Innovation Diffusion Theory

To resist, or not to resist, that is the question: on the status quo bias of public sector employees when dealing with technology

Technological innovations and new ways of working became the daily routine in German administrations at the municipal, the state and the federal level. Technology use among their employees is an essential aspect of mastering the digital transformation in the public sector. The employees’ status quo bias, however, profoundly influences their perception and behaviour in technology-related settings. The critical role of cognitive biases is recognised in many disciplines, including sociology, psychology, and marketing. Against this background, the objective of our work is to expand existing acceptance models with the aspect of bounded rationality and apply them to employees in the public sector. This allows us to gain theoretical insights concerning the resistance of using technology in this domain. As technology becomes ever more ubiquitous in times of the coronavirus pandemic, and as the performance and well-being of public sector employees is more and more important to the administrative board members, including the status quo bias perspective when dealing with technology use presents increasing theoretical and practical importance

Design Thinking as a Tool for Co-Creation and Co-Design – An Experience Report in 5 Theses

Die digitale Transformation stellt deutsche Städte und Gemeinden vor große Herausforderungen. Dabei ist es wichtig, dass der Mensch mit seinen Bedürfnissen im Mittelpunkt der Gestaltung der zukünftigen Lebens- und Arbeitsräume steht. Im vorliegenden praxisorientierten Artikel wird aufgezeigt, wie der innovative Design Thinking-Ansatz zur digitalen Transformation öffentlicher Verwaltungen beitragen kann. Anhand des Fallbeispiels eines kommunalen Open Government Labors in Nordrhein-Westfalen, welches den "Kurort der Zukunft" gestalten möchte, können allgemeine Anregungen zur aktiven Teilhabe der Bürgerschaft und Stadtgesellschaft abgeleitet werden. Ferner werden spezielle Prinzipien für die Durchführung eines Ideen-Workshops diskutiert und mögliche Herausforderungen virtueller Formate beleuchtet. Der Beitrag schlussfolgert, dass der Design Thinking-Ansatz eine große Chance ist, den Wandel unserer Kommunen inklusiv, kollaborativ, agil zu gestalten und einen wertvollen Beitrag zu Stadtentwicklung zu liefern. Aufbauend auf unserem Anwendungsbeispiel wird insgesamt deutlich, wie und warum durch innovative Formate der Zusammenarbeit ein zusätzliches Potenzial der co-kreativen und co-produktiven Gestaltung der Städte und Gemeinden von morgen geschaffen werden kann. Das Gelernte kann schnell auf andere Fälle adaptiert und übertragen werden

AR- and Holography-Enabled Networking as an Alternative to Traditional On-Site Networking—a Multi-Perspective Perspective

Virtuelles Netzwerken ist seit Beginn der Corona-Pandemie ein zentrales Mittel geworden, um sich zu vernetzen. Mit dem einschneidenden Ereignis von COVID-19 sind zahlreiche Alternativen zu traditionellen Netzwerkveranstaltungen wie Messen, Abendessen etc. entstanden. Hierbei traten jedoch auch viele Hürden auf, etwa die fehlende Menschlichkeit oder das zweidimensionale Erscheinungsbild im digitalen Raum. Ein Ansatz diese Herausforderungen zu überwinden, liegt in der Kombination von erweiterter Realität (engl. augmented reality (AR)) und Holografie. Um die technische Machbarkeit dieses Ansatzes zu überprüfen, haben wir mit AR-Experten und Kunden gesprochen und die Faktoren für und gegen die Nutzung von AR und Holografie zum Netzwerken diskutiert. Unsere Ergebnisse zeigen, dass die Experten und Kunden hohes Potenzial in der Kombination sehen. Doch mangelt es momentan noch an technologischen Lösungen, um dies breitenwirksam einsetzen zu können. Die Experten und Kunden sind sich resümierend einig, dass es, basierend auf den aktuellen technischen Entwicklungen im Bereich AR und Holografie, in naher Zukunft dafür Lösungen geben wird und die Kombination von AR und Holografie dann eine gute Alternative zum Netzwerken darstellen kann. Daraus folgern wir, dass ortsunabhängiges Netzwerken mit AR und Holografie eine Welt zum Wohlfühlen für die Nutzenden schafft und einen klaren Mehrwert darstellt

The Acceptance and Use Behavior of Shared Mobility Services in a Rural Municipality

In rural regions, needs-based mobility services play an important role in the provision of public services. Shared Mobility Services can optimally complement local public transportation such as buses and trains, even in rural regions, and support the transformation of transportation. There is already research on Shared Mobility Services in the literature, but there is no comparison between all of Germany-wide and a specific municipality. We were interested in learning to what extent there is acceptance among citizens and what their usage behavior is towards such new alternatives. We also aimed to find out whether there are differences between large cities and rural regions and to what extent they differ from each other. In this case study, interplay was demonstrated using the example of a funded Smart City mobility project in a German rural municipality. The objective was to show whether the potential exists to initiate traffic turnaround with the help of Shared Mobility Services. In a quantitative survey of 418 German citizens, 114 of them from the rural municipality, the acceptance and usage behavior of Shared Mobility Services (in the form of car, bike and e-scooter sharing) was investigated. The results show that participants are very interested in Shared Mobility Services and have already gained initial experience with such services. However, there is still a lack of comprehensive services; for instance, the demand for car sharing is still too low, as many citizens still own a private vehicle. Our results show that citizens are too little informed about Shared Mobility Services and that these services need to be advertised much more strongly and clearly, both in analog and digitally. Our study shows that traffic turnaround can be achieved and that many citizens can imagine greater use of Shared Mobility Services in their everyday lives in the future. However, for this to happen, the necessary infrastructure must be in place in rural regions, and local authorities must motivate citizens with sufficient educational work about what is on offer and how to use it