Journal Article

Creating public value through smart technologies and strategies

Gil-Garcia, J. Ramon, Criado, J. Ignacio

2019

Overview

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to introduce the special issue about generation of public value through smart technologies and strategies. The key argument is that smart technologies have the potential to foster co-creation of public services and the generation of public value in management processes, based on the collaborative, social and horizontal nature of these smart technologies. Understanding these processes from a public management perspective is the purpose of this paper and the rest of the special issue.Design/methodology/approachThe approach to this paper is a theoretical and conceptual review, whereas practical implications both for scholars and practitioners arise from the review of the literature and the conceptual approximation to the notion of smartness in technologies and government. This approach is rooted in the potential of the latest smart technologies and strategies to transform public administrations and to better understand and cope societal problems.FindingsThe conceptual and theoretical perspective of this paper offers ideas for future developments. The content of this paper shows that new smart technologies and strategies will shape, and will be shaped by, the future of public organizations and management. This paper illustrates the process of change in public value generation over time, as a result of different public management paradigms (from traditional public administration to new public management), but also different types of technologies (from mainframes to websites and social media and beyond). The empirical evidence of the articles of this special issue supports this conclusion; that open and collaborative innovation processes developed under this emergent technological wave could become encouraging transformative practices in the public sector.Research limitations/implicationsThe theoretical and conceptual nature of this paper needs further empirical research to validate some of the discussed assumptions and ideas.Originality/valueAlthough this paper is oriented to present the main contents of the special issue, it also provides an original approach to the theme of public value generation using smart technologies and strategies in public sector management.

• Publisher: Emerald Group Publishing Limited
• Subject: Artificial intelligence / Automation / Collaboration / Communication / Communications technology / Crowdsourcing / Digital technology / Electronic government / Innovations / Internet / Literature reviews / Management / Mass media / New public management / Open data / Paradigms / Participation / Politics / Public administration / Public sector / Public services / Research methodology / Scholars / Sensors / Social media / Social networks / Social problems / Strategies / Technological change / Transparency / Value / Value creation / Verbal communication / Web portals / Websites