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Introduction
The fast evolution of artificial intelligence technologies, their general applicability, and their potential to disrupt have induced notable changes in various domains and industries, including the public sector. From a broad perspective, AI is a special form of ICTs, capable of displaying intelligent behavior and completing tasks normally said to require human intelligence, including different types of AI such as audio processing, chatbots, computer vision, machine learning, natural language processing, and predictive analytics (Misuraca and Noordt, 2020). Until now, only a few studies have delved into the analysis of AI impacts on public services (Bonomi Savignon et al., 2023; Fischer & Doring, 2024; Neumann et al., 2022), paying more effort into figuring out the ethical challenges in the development of algorithms (Valle-Cruz et al., 2023). The result is a lack of systematization of challenges, risks, and potential solutions for the adoption and use of AI in the public sector, where governments might have multiple roles, including as users, regulators, enablers, and leaders (Guenduez and Mettler, 2023), also depending on the contextual factors influencing the uptake of AI.
This special issue seeks to advance the understanding of conceptual bases of AI and GenAI technologies diffusion in government, focusing on the antecedents (i.e. which are the human, technological, and organizational factors supporting or hindering AI uptake), implementation (i.e. which are the sociotechnical and managerial dimensions driving successful AI incorporation in processes and decision making), and outcomes (i.e. which are the impacts on internal and external stakeholders) within the public sector at large – indicating all organizations pursuing public interest activities and policies. This may include perspectives on how AI systems are designed, deployed, and procured for in different policy and service domains, and different administrative contexts.
The special issue will contribute to the understanding of AI not only in terms of algorithmic governance and its risks, but to the exploration of actual implementation efforts of intelligent automation technologies and their drivers/barriers towards intended impacts – a perspective that has been mostly neglected in the literature so far.
List of topic areas
We invite conceptual or empirical contributions on topics such as, but not limited to, the following:
- Which human, technological and organizational factors drive successful uptake of AI technologies in the public sector?
- Which are the sociotechnical and managerial dimensions driving successful AI incorporation in governmental processes and decision making?
- How does AI impact on established/routinary public sector processes (ie budgeting, HR, performance management)?
- How does AI change public value creation and representation? How are public sector outcomes (re)shaped by automation?
- What are the implementation challenges of public AI?
- What are the context-specific drivers and barriers affecting the use of AI and gen-AI in the public sector? How do these vary across policy or service domains and administrative contexts and traditions?
- What are the impacts of AI diffusion on public sector jobs (in terms of recruitment; skills/competences; motivation, acceptance, and engagement)?
- What kind of public-private partnerships does AI governance induce?
- How are AI systems designed and acquired by public sector from private developers? What is the role of IT and strategic consulting?
Guest Editors
Andrea Bonomi Savignon,
University of Rome Tor Vergata, Rome, Italy,
[email protected]
Lorenzo Costumato,
University of Rome Tor Vergata, Rome, Italy,
[email protected]
Caroline Fischer,
University of Twente, The Netherlands,
[email protected]
Oliver Neumann,
University of Lausanne, Switzerland,
[email protected]
Submissions Information
Submissions are made using ScholarOne Manuscripts. Registration and access are available at: https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/ijpsm
Author guidelines must be strictly followed.
Authors should select (from the drop-down menu) the special issue title at the appropriate step in the submission process, i.e. in response to “Please select the issue you are submitting to”.
Submitted articles must not have been previously published, nor should they be under consideration for publication anywhere else, while under review for this journal.
Key Deadlines
Opening date for manuscripts submissions: 1 June 2025
Closing date for manuscripts submission: 31 October 2025
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