Topics of Interest

In this call, we encourage (a) conceptual papers, as well as (b) methodological, and (c) empirical papers on service automation in the public sector. The general term ‘service automation’ is used in an inclusive manner, including a wide set of technologies used to automate human (manual) labor in the public service delivery process. The topics of the present call include, but are not limited to, the following:

  • Basic research questions, key concepts, generic laws and foundational principles of service automation in the public sector
  • Ontologies, taxonomies, lexicons and other semantic elements for service automation
  • Service automation in the public sector from different perspectives: citizen, civil servant and other stakeholders
  • Relation between legacy systems, RPA/AI and human workers
  • Ethical considerations associated with automation and AI in the public sector
  • Goals and benefits of service automation in the public sector
  • Overviews and discussions of technologies suitable for service automation in the public sector, e.g., Robotic Process Automation, Artificial Intelligence, Systems Integration
  • Methods for service automation recognition and identification of reusable elements
  • Organizing for implementing automated processes, for example center of excellence
  • Methods for planning, implementing and operating automated processes
  • Methods and guidelines for contracting of automation and AI
  • Empirical examples of service automation in different areas of the public sector, such as health, school and public administration.
  • Implications of service automation for workflow and/or work environment
  • Empirical examples of lightweight IT for service automation
  • Strategies for AI and automation in the public sector 
  • Challenges of automation and AI in the public sector
  • Organizational implications of using automated processes
  • Public service quality implications
  • Security aspects of RPA/AI implementations
  • Guidelines and recommendations on service automation to key stakeholders
  • Research agendas for future research on service automation in the public sector