Entwicklung und Validierung eines Fragebogens zur Messung digitalen Arbeitens: Das Beispiel der Fallbearbeitung in der öffentlichen Verwaltung

Für eine erfolgreiche Digitalisierung des öffentlichen Sektors müssen Erkenntnisse darüber gewonnen werden, wie sich die Digitalisierung auf die Arbeit der Beschäftigten im öffentlichen Dienst auswirkt. Der offensichtliche Mangel an empirischen Daten und Modelltests ist teilweise auf unzureichende integrative konzeptionelle Modelle und Messgrößen zurückzuführen. Ein kürzlich vorgeschlagenes fünfdimensionales Modell, das den Grad der Digitalisierung von Verwaltungsabläufen beschreibt (Kaesmayr, Schorn & Steidle 2021), stellt den Ausgangspunkt für den vorliegenden Beitrag dar. Zur Ermöglichung der tatsächlichen Messung erfolgt hier die Darstellung der Entwicklung und Validierung eines entsprechenden Fragebogens. Die Entwicklung umfasst die Itemformulierung durch Spezifi zierung von Attributen, Ratern und Objekten der zugrunde liegenden Konstrukte sowie die Bildung von Indizes mittels einer neu entwickelten Methode zur Kontrastgewichtung. Die Validierung umfasst Komponentenanalysen sowie konfirmatorische Faktorenanalysen auf Basis der Daten von 519 Verwaltungsbeschäftigten. Der Fragebogen ermöglicht die Beschreibung und Bewertung des Digitalisierungsgrads von Verwaltungsarbeit und Verwaltungsverfahren sowie die Evaluation von Maßnahmen zur Verbesserung der digitalen Fallbearbeitung. Darüber hinaus ermöglicht er die Erforschung von Bedingungen und Konsequenzen und damit die Ableitung von Ansatzpunkten für einen erfolgreichen digitalen Wandel. Hierzu bedarf es allerdings noch weiterer Forschung zur Überprüfung der prädiktivenn Validität und des praktischen Nutzens

Measuring Good Administration

Although good administration plays a crucial role for a state to function, to date no comprehensive and accepted conceptualization exists. Scholars and policymakers, however, are depending on a comprehensive and valid set of criteria to assess the quality of administrations and the effects of reforms and interventions. To develop an appropriate conceptualization, we draw on literature from jurisprudence, administrative, political, economic, as well as social sciences. Applying Rossiter’s C OAR SE approach to ensure content validity, 30 constructs underlying good administration were derived. The items formulated to measure these constructs were empirically validated in an online survey with 519 case workers in German municipal agencies. Principal components analysis yielded four components, i.e., diligence/mission, efficiency, information, and responsivity/support. Thereby, it becomes apparent that some of the criteria used in the literature, such as proportionality, load on multiple components

Impact of digitalization on the quality of administrative action (VerDi)

Digitization has played an important role in administrative work not only since the OZG. The provision of services and the design of workplaces in public administrations are changing gradually in some cases, but also disruptively in others. Accordingly, experts see numerous research questions surrounding the topics of e-government and e-administration. This applies above all to the question of the effects on employees in public authorities. Because hardly any findings are available on this to date. While studies on administrative digitization are primarily devoted to the digital availability of administrative services, the VerDi project deliberately takes an individual-oriented approach based on the Job Demands-Resources Theory. The idea behind this is that digitization usually first affects the burdens and resources of employees and only then the administrative work or the results of administrative action. The project is intended to make a scientific contribution to interdisciplinary research and, above all, to the further development of the still young field of Behavioral Public Administration, which builds a bridge from legal science via economics and social sciences to psychology. In practice, the project should help to successfully shape the digital transformation in public administrations. We want to know what helps and where the stumbling blocks lie. In Baden-Württemberg, we are being supported in this by the regional regulatory control council (Normenkontrollrat) and regional municipal associations (Städtetag, Gemeindetag and Landkreistag). The project is also made possible by funding from the Ministry of Science, Research and the Arts. With the help of our partners, we will make the findings from the research available to all interested administrative practitioners at the end of the project

What’s important depends on what you need: A basic psychological needs perspective on stakeholders’ urgencies in administrative procedures

This research explores stakeholders' perspectives on administrative procedures, focusing on basic psychological needs. The goal is to understand the motives driving evaluations of administrative quality and performance, particularly for constitutive administrative acts. Using a multi-method approach, the study analyzes five stakeholder groups' central motives at different stages of administrative procedures. To achieve this, the user experience journey technique is adapted to identify stakeholders' motivations, including achievement, affiliation, and power. Guided workshop discussions, qualitative expert interviews, and a review of legal sources are utilized to determine stakeholders' urgencies at each step of the process. Through qualitative content analysis of expert interviews, the study deduces the central concepts underlying these urgencies. The findings provide valuable insights into stakeholders' perspectives, motivations, and urgencies regarding administrative procedures and thus important attributes of good administration. This understanding is crucial for evaluating administrative performance and shaping potential goals for administrative reforms

Acceleration Factor Pandemic: A Synthesis of e-Government Maturity Models and Public Administration Employees' Perspective

The Covid-19 pandemic and the Online Access Act (Onlinezugangsgesetz – OZG) are forcing Germany's public administration to accelerate digital transformation in general and the digitalization of agencies on federal, state and municipal level in particular. To assess this endeavor’s progress, existing e-Government maturity models were evaluated. The majority of models mainly focus on technical characteristics of an administrative act, while disregarding the importance of (1) public servants, (2) their work situation and (3) organizational processes. It is the latter three determining successful digitalization. Consequently, we fuse previous e-Government maturity models with the individual perspective of public servants including internet-based work, virtualization of teams and societal participation. This paper describes the synthesis of a model, its advantages and limitations including next steps towards its empirical validation

Development and Validation of a Digital Administrative Work Scale

For successful digitalization of the public sector, insights into how digitalization affects the work of public sector employees must be attained. Hence, integrative conceptual models and metrics of digital work are needed. A five-dimensional model describing the degree of digitalization of administrative action (Kaesmayr, Schorn & Steidle 2021) provides the point of departure for this paper. To enable actual measurement, the development and validation of a corresponding questionnaire is presented. Its development includes the item formulation by specifying attributes, raters and objects of the underlying constructs as well as the formation of indices by means of a contrast weighting specifically augmented for this type of work. The validation of the scale includes component as well as confirmatory factor analyses based on data from 519 administrative employees in Germany. The scale provides the opportunity to describe and evaluate the degree of digitalization of administrative procedures and to evaluate measures to improve digital case processing. Furthermore, it enables research into conditions and consequences for a successful digital transformation. However, further research is required to verify the predictive validity and practical benefits of the scale

Validating Personnel Management Interventions to Elicit Digital Competence and Affinity in Public Servants – A Qualitative Approach

Digitalization affects public servants’ job demands and resources. The current paper investigates which measures managers can employ to optimize digital work on administrative procedures. Building on a previous study on the impact of digitalization on work experiences and performance in public agencies and on a literature research regarding leadership instruments, we derived two sets of measures on job design and digital communication management. The proposed measures were validated conducting expert interviews with actual and prospective managers from various municipal agencies. Overall, our analyses revealed heterogenous patterns regarding the prevalence of the proposed measures. Experts reported various potential benefits and challenges as well as suitable recommendations regarding their implementations which indicates that the proposed measures could indeed contribute to facilitating digital work on administrative procedures. Finally, the practical implications as well as limitations of our approach are discussed

Facilitating digital work in public agencies through job design and digital communication management: Validating empirically and theoretically derived implications on digital leadership using expert interviews

Digitalization affects public servants’ job demands and resources. The current paper investigates which measures managers can employ to optimize digital work on administrative procedures. Building on a previous study on the impact of digitalization on work experiences and performance in public agencies and on a literature research regarding leadership instruments, we derived two sets of measures on job design and digital communication management. The proposed measures were validated conducting expert interviews with actual and prospective managers from various municipal agencies. Overall, our analyses revealed heterogenous patterns regarding the prevalence of the proposed measures. Experts reported various potential benefits and challenges as well as suitable recommendations regarding their implementations which indicates that the proposed measures could indeed contribute to facilitating digital work on administrative procedures. Finally, the practical implications as well as limitations of our approach are discussed