Communication of EU public servants in the digital environment during the Covid-19 Pandemic
Keywords:
communicative competence, e-government, artificial intelligence, digitalization, public services, government ecosystem, corruption.
Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the adaptation processes of digitalization in virtually all spheres of public life. The emergence of new e-government platforms and open data, which are currently being actively implemented in many countries worldwide, undoubtedly need to be improved and adjusted. The aim of the article was to conduct a comparative study of the best practices of the leading "digital" EU countries in the field of regulating digital public services and enhancing the communicative competencies of public servants. The key methodological tools applied in the research were the methods of observation and comparative legal analysis. The study showed that the pandemic identified the essential issues of digitalization within the framework of e-government. It was concluded that the rapid introduction of innovations in the area under analysis is associated in the EU with the emergence of adaptive problems, among which the leading ones are corruption, bureaucracy, low digital competence of public servants and minimal digital literacy of the residents. The research perspective is a comparative analysis of the gradual implementation of the e-government reform updated models by the Member States.
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References
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Carroll, N., & Conboy, K. (2020). Normalising the “New normal”: changing tech-driven work practices under pandemic time pressure. International Journal of Information Management, 55. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2020.102186
Council of Europe. (2020). The United Nations agenda 2030 for sustainable development. Retrieved from https://www.coe.int/ru/web/congress/sdg
Digital government of the Netherlands. (2021). Digital government agenda. Retrieved from https://www.nldigitalgovernment.nl/digital-government-agenda
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European Commission. (2021a). EGovernment and digital public services. Retrieved from https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/policies/egovernment
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European Commission. (2021c). Sweden AI strategy report. Retrieved from https://knowledge4policy.ec.europa.eu/ai-watch/sweden-ai-strategy-report_en
European Commission. (2021d). Upskilling for life after the pandemic: Commission launches new digital competence guidelines. Retrieved from https://ec.europa.eu/jrc/en/news/upskilling-life-after-pandemic-commission-launches-new-digital-competence-guidelines
European Union. (2021). Denmark - digital growth strategy 2025. Retrieved from https://digital-skills-jobs.europa.eu/en/actions/national-initiatives/national-strategies/denmark-digital-growth-strategy-2025
Faraj, S., Renno, W., & Bhardwaj, A. (2021). Unto the breach: What the COVID-19 pandemic exposes. Information and Organization, 31(1). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.infoandorg.2021.100337
Farooq, A., Laato, S., Islam, N., & Isoaho, J. (2021). Understanding the impact of information sources on COVID-19 related preventive measures in Finland. Technology in Society, 65. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techsoc.2021.101573
Feijóo, C., Kwon, Y., Bauer, J., Bohlin, E., Howell, B., Jain, R., Potgieter, P., Vu, K., Whalley, J., & Xia, J. (2020). Harnessing artificial intelligence (AI) to increase wellbeing for all: the case for a new technology diplomacy. Telecommunications Policy, 44(6). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.telpol.2020.101988
Finland Toolbox. (2021). Finland as a global leader of digitalisation. Retrieved from https://toolbox.finland.fi/business-innovation/finland-as-a-global-leader-of-digitalisation/
Fleron, B., Pries-heje, J., & Baskerville, R. (2021). Digital organizational resilience: a history of denmark as a most digitalized country. Proceedings of the 54th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (pp. 2400-2409). Retrieved from https://scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu/bitstream/10125/70907/0236.pdf
Fletcher, G., & Griffiths, M. (2020). Digital transformation during a lockdown. International Journal of Information Management, 55. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2020.102185
Government offices of Sweden. (2021). The Government’s innovation partnership programmes. Retrieved from https://www.government.se/government-policy/the-governments-innovation-partnership-programmes/
Kabbar, E. (2021). A comparative analysis of the e-government development index (egdi). IADIS Press. Retrieved from https://www.ict-conf.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/01_202106L003_Kabbar.pdf
Mergel, I., Ganapati, S., & Whitford, A. (2020). Agile: A new way of governing. Public Administration Review, 81(1), 161-165. https://doi.org/10.1111/puar.13202
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). (2021a). OECD economic surveys. Sweden. Overview. Retrieved from https://www.oecd.org/economy/surveys/Sweden-2021-OECD-economic-survey-overview.pdf
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). (2021b). OECD Economic Surveys: Italy 2021. Strengthening Italy’s public sector effectiveness. Retrieved from https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/economics/oecd-economic-surveys-italy-2021_153261f9-en
Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). (2021c). Public sector innovation scan of Denmark. Retrieved from https://oecd-opsi.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Public-Sector-Innovation-Scan-of-Denmark.pdf
Pittaway, J., & Montazemi, A. R. (2020). Know-how to lead digital transformation: the case of local governments. Government Information Quarterly, 37(4). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.giq.2020.101474
Ramsetty, A., & Adams, C. (2020). Impact of the digital divide in the age of COVID-19. Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association, 27(7), 1147–1148. https://doi.org/10.1093/jamia/ocaa078
Rustiarini, N. W. (2019). The role of e-government in reducing corruption: A systematic review. Jurnal Perspektif Pembiayaan dan Pembangunan Daerah, 7(3), 269-286.
Scroxton, A. (2020). EU security strategy a ‘step up’ on cyber leadership. TechTarget. Retrieved from https://www.computerweekly.com/news/252493802/EU-security-strategy-a-step-up-on-cyber-leadership-says-Brussels
United Nations Conference on trade and development (UNCTAD). (2020). COVID-19 and e-commerce. Impact on businesses and policy responses. Retrieved from https://unctad.org/system/files/official-document/dtlstictinf2020d2_en.pdf
United Nations. (2020a). Decade of action to deliver the global goals. Retrieved from https://www.unwater.org/decade-of-action-to-deliver-the-global-goals/
United Nations. (2020b). E-government survey 2020. Digital government in the decade of action for sustainable development. Retrieved from https://publicadministration.un.org/egovkb/Portals/egovkb/Documents/un/2020-Survey/2020%20UN%20E-Government%20Survey%20(Full%20Report).pdf
United Nations. (2021). UN chief's message to world leaders: ‘Wake up, change course, unite’. United Nations. Retrieved from https://news.un.org/en/story/2021/09/1100152
Zilber, T., & Goodman, Y. (2021). High-technology in the time of corona: a critical institutional reading. Information and Organization, 31(1). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.infoandorg.2021.100342
Published
2022-04-20
How to Cite
Dreshpak, V. M., Kovalov, V. G., Kritenko, O. O., Shevchenko, N. I., & Babachenko, N. V. (2022). Communication of EU public servants in the digital environment during the Covid-19 Pandemic. Amazonia Investiga, 11(51), 171-182. https://doi.org/10.34069/AI/2022.51.03.16
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