Paper/Speech Details of Conference Program for the 29th NISPAcee Annual Conference Program Overview WG2: E-government (Physical) Author(s) Aleksander Aristovnik University of Ljubljana Ljubljana Slovenia Murko Eva, Tomaževič Nina, Kovač Polonca, Ravšelj Dejan, Title The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the digital transformation of public administration: The case of Slovenian administrative units File Paper files are available only for conference participants, please login first. Presenter Abstract The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly reshaped almost all aspects of societal relations, including administrative ones, whereby the rise of digital development was no exception. Namely, in an unexpected circumstance, such as the COVID-19 crisis, public service delivery cannot be suspended, but must be delivered online, relying on the available digital technology. Accordingly, public administration has faced the urgent need to assess its current digital technological capabilities while facing sudden processes of technological adoption and implementing solutions. In other words, the COVID-19 pandemic can be considered as an accelerator for digital transformation in public service delivery. At the beginning and during the COVID-19 crisis public administration applied various and digital-based strategies, techniques and communication channels to continue carrying out their tasks towards citizens, as well as effectively organize work within public administration. Turbulent problems exposed by the COVID-19 pandemic call for digital-based solutions that are sufficiently adaptable, agile and pragmatic to upheld a particular goal or function in the face of continuous disruptions. The main aim of the paper is to identify comprehensive effects of digitalization on selected aspects of the functioning of Slovenian administrative units during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. For this purpose, the paper conducts correlation analysis on a cross-sectional dataset. The data for the paper is collected through web-based survey with 21 substantive and 5 demographic questions, addressing various aspects of the public administration functioning, especially administrative procedures and services, human resource management as well as economic and financial management. The web-based survey was opened to the heads of administrative units from 8 to 22 June 2020, whereby all of the 58 heads of administrative units in Slovenia responded to the invitation to participate to participate in the survey. The results of the paper suggest that the COVID-19 pandemic will have a lasting impact on the operation of the Slovenian administrative units, especially concerning digitization. Despite the lack of personal contacts emphasized by the civil servants, it is very likely that the administrative units in Slovenia will continue to use digital-based solution even after the COVID-19 crisis. The findings of the paper will facilitate formulating the recommendations for agile functioning of the Slovenian administrative units in line with the principles of good public governance. Namely, the COVID-19 pandemic has made clear that turbulent problems – characterized by surprising, inconsistent, unpredictable and uncertain events – persistently disrupt public administration. Therefore, enhanced digital technological capabilities and digital transformation represent an inevitable challenge for the public administration in the future.
