Platform Government in the Era of Smart Technology

• Published date: 01 March 2022
• Author: Soonhee Kim,Kim Normann Andersen,Jungwoo Lee
• Date: 01 March 2022
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/puar.13422

362Public Administration Review • March | Apri l 202 2

Public Administration Review,

Vol. 82, Iss. 2, pp. 362–368. © 2021 by

The American Society for Public Administration.

DOI:10.1111/puar.13422.

Soonhee Kim

Kim Normann Andersen

Jungwoo Lee

Platform Government in the Era of Smart Technology

Abstract: Whereas the concept of platform government emerged a decade ago and virtual states are predicted

beginning early 2000s, supporting technologies and infrastructures are now being installed and implemented with

highly integrative technologies such as cloud computing, big data analytics, mobile computing, social media, Internet

of Things, and artificial intelligence. This realization of platform governments leads us to rethink what have been

predicted decades ago. Time has come for us to really open up real opportunities by facing realistic challenges for public

management. The pressure for government innovations, such as algorithmic bureaucracy and collaborative value

creation, is increasing. Attentions need to be paid with respect to how the managerial role and activities are being

transformed, how the nature of work in government is fundamentally changed, and how the decision-making processes

are re-institutionalized. Further research issues are discussed at the end of this Viewpoint.

Evidence for Practice

• Platform governments predicted earlier are now being realized by highly integrative technologies such as cloud

computing, big data analytics, social media, mobile computing, Internet of Things, and artificial intelligence.

• Platform government demands new approaches to public management, changes the nature of work of public

managers, and reshapes the decision-making processes.

• Algorithmic bureaucracy provisioned by these new platformization will enable more anticipatory decision-making,

require stronger leadership commitment on digitalization and innovation, and provide higher agility in public

management.

• Collaborative value creation can and will be expedited by the technological capabilities provided but also with a lot

of social experimentation on these platforms.

• The nature of work of public managers will be changing continuously in serious orders on these platform

governments.

Introduction

New waves of highly integrative and immersive

technology, such as cloud computing, big data

analytics, social media, mobile computing, the

Internet of Things (IoT), and artificial intelligence (AI),

are reshaping governments and public administration

toward different levels than simple electronification of

public management (Agarwal2018). With these more

integrative technologies, digitalization of government is

now entering a new age: platform governments (Dijck,

José, and De Waal2018; Finnerty2018; Pope2019).

Technologies become much smarter with the

integrative platforms of digital government in which

data and information are easily connected to each

other, and services to public and underlying operations

are now more transparent with leaner interfaces from

the citizens’ side.

The virtual state predicted as a new form of

government at the beginning of this century

(Fountain2001) is now being technologically and

physically realized as platform governments proposed

only about a decade ago (O’Reilly2010). Various

public platforms have been developed and operated

that support government operations and provide

the bases for efficient and effective public services

(Agarwal2018; Krishnan2020). In some contexts,

these developments into platform are described

as continentalization of governmental systems

(Lee2016). With the internet age, the information

systems and databases developed for governmental

functions and services in the 1980s and 1990s have

begun to be connected and integrated to achieve

the information synergy (Aggarwal2015; Weibl and

Hess2020; Yannoukakou and Araka2014), forming

platforms in government. AI in various capacities can

now enter government systems only on top of these

platforms with big data analytics and social media

(Mucha and Seppala2020). IoT is slowly subverting

the infrastructural services such as energy, water,

Jungwoo Lee is a professor in smart

technology management in the Graduate

School of Information and the Director of

Center for Work Science, Yonsei University,

Seoul, Republic of Korea. His current

research includes the changing nature

of work by technology including but not

limited to individual and collaborative job

crafting, roles of AI at work, digital gestures

in virtual communications, and collaboration

overloading occurring in the coming age of

knowledge work.

Email: jlee@yonsei.ac.kr

Kim Normann Andersen is a professor

and study program director for the IT-study

programs at the Copenhagen Business

School, Copenhagen, Denmark. He has

been conducting research on public sector

IT since the mid-1990s and involved in

research collaborative efforts in a range of

countries in Asia, Europe, and the United

States.

Email: andersen@cbs.dk

Soonhee Kim is a professor of public

administration at the KDI School of Public

Policy and Management, Sejong City,

Republic of Korea.

Email: soonheekim@kdischool.ac.kr

Viewpoint Article

KDI School of Public Policy and Management

Copenhagen Business School

Yonsei University