Governmental Justification of Digital Transformation in the Public Sector

This article presents an explorative study of how governments in EU countries publicly justify digital transformation in the public sector. By using Denmark as a case of a digital frontrunner among European Union member states, we focus on a new field of study: the political-administrative efforts to justify the digital transformation in the public sector. We conduct an institutional-discourse analysis to detect the ideas used for justification carried out by the Danish government in the period 1994‒2022. We conclude that shifting Danish governments have pursued a consensual, strongly coordinated, nonpolitical approach to the justification of digital transformation, mainly based on a background philosophy of efficiency and framing digital transformation as rational, administrative, technical, and self-evident—a philosophy the government has increasingly adopted from EU strategies. Simultaneously, the philosophy of inclusion of citizens in digital transformation has been neglected. This has happened despite that the digital transformation has gradually eased ever deeper into the daily lives of citizens, since all residents of Denmark are now obliged to use digital services when interacting with public authorities.