Purpose-The aim of this paper is to explore the role of algorithms in research focusing on automated decision-making of citizen services. Design/methodology/approach-A scoping review of literature published between 2016 and 2025 was conducted. Studies were analyzed to identify how automated decision-making is conceptualized, the terminology used, the roles algorithms are assigned and the contexts in which they operate. Findings-The review reveals significant conceptual ambiguity in research on automated decision-making. Furthermore, automated decision-making systems are shown to operate within broader socio-technical networks encompassing people, organizational structures, technologies and formal rules. Current research offers fragmented understandings of automated decision-making, focusing largely on administrative efficiency rather than citizen experiences. Practical implications-The findings point to an urgent need for policy frameworks, standardized guidelines and training that embed public values such as fairness, transparency and accountability. Policies should promote digital literacy and citizen empowerment to ensure engagement with automated decision-making and algorithmic systems in citizen services and public sector governance. Originality/value-This study contributes to a nuanced understanding of the complexity of automated decision-making, highlighting the context and institutional logic. Algorithms were found to play seven different roles supporting humans in automated decision-making processes. This, together with different degrees of automation in the decision-making process, challenges a more dualistic view of automated decision-making.

The rapid and wide proliferation of digital technologies and ‘digital first’ ideology has exposed society to significant risks. While useful or even transformative, these technologies often advance without adequate consideration of their societal implications, leading to potentially degraded resilience in social systems and threats to civic and social values. We explore the social values dilemmas arising from societal digitalization, characterized by the tension between the promises of digital innovation and unintended consequences, which challenge foundational values such as privacy, equity, and democratic participation. By critiquing the dominance of neoliberal market logic in shaping digital infrastructure, we reveal how current trajectories can undermine public institutions and exacerbate societal inequalities. Using examples from the embeddedness of digital infrastructures, mass surveillance, and disinformation, we highlight cascading failures that destabilize critical systems and erode social cohesion. To address these challenges, we trace the origins of the social values dilemma to the neoliberal policies of the 1990s and show how these have evolved into existential societal crises in the 21st century. We advocate for a sociotechnical systems approach that prioritizes participatory governance, ethical design, and long-term evaluation of digital technologies. Collaboration among governments, scientific communities, and civil society is essential to ensure digital advancements align with collective social values, mitigate risks, and foster a resilient digital society. By incorporating diverse stakeholder perspectives and embracing both digital and non-digital alternatives, societies can achieve a balanced approach to digitalization that preserves human agency, civic participation and democratic values.

Mobile health devices (MHDs), such as wearables and smartphones, have the potential to improve the monitoring of people with Parkinson’s disease (PD) and inform timely and individualized disease management decisions. This paper provides an overview of the technologies behind mobile health devices MHDs and investigate their potential for sustainable management of PD. A literature search using PubMed, Scopus, and IEEE Xplore was performed between October 30, 2023, and November 16, 2023, for studies investigating the use of MHDs to measure PD cardinal motor features. A total of 138 relevant papers drawn from 2364 papers were analyzed. MHDs have been mainly used to assess gait and bradykinesia (slowness of movements). Most studies focused on the patient outcomes, while overlooking aspects such as the integration of MHDs in healthcare workflows and sustainable viability factors (user adoption and cost-effectiveness). When designing MHD-based interventions it is essential to balance the focus on immediate health benefits for PD patients with equal consideration for technology integration, cost-effectiveness, and user adoption to ensure comprehensive, impactful, and sustainable contributions of such interventions.

BackgroundParkinson disease (PD) is a complex, noncurable, and progressive neurological disease affecting different areas of the human nervous system. PD is associated with both motor and nonmotor symptoms, which negatively affect patients’ quality of life and may cause changes in socialization such as intentional social withdrawal. This may further lead to social isolation and loneliness. The use of information and communication technology (ICT) plays an important role in managing social isolation and loneliness. Currently, there is a lack of research focusing on designing and developing ICT solutions that specifically address social isolation and loneliness among people living with PD. ObjectiveThis study addresses this gap by investigating barriers and social needs in the context of social isolation, loneliness, and technology use among people living with PD. The insights gained can inform the development of effective ICT solutions, which can address social isolation and loneliness and improve the quality of life for people living with PD. MethodsA qualitative study with 2 phases of data collection were conducted. During the first phase, 9 health care professionals and 16 people living with PD were interviewed to understand how PD affects social life and technology use. During the second phase, 2 focus groups were conducted with 4 people living with PD in each group to gather insights into their needs and identify ways to manage social isolation and loneliness. Thematic analysis was used to analyze both data sets and identify key themes. ResultsThe results showed that the barriers experienced by people living with PD due to PD such as “fatigue,” “psychological conditions,” “social stigma,” and “medication side effects” affect their social life. People living with PD also experience difficulties using a keyboard and mouse, remembering passwords, and navigating complex applications due to their PD-related physical and cognitive limitations. To manage their social isolation and loneliness, people living with PD suggested having a simple and easy-to-use solution, allowing them to participate in a digital community based on their interests, communicate with others, and receive recommendations for social events. ConclusionsThe new ICT solutions focusing on social isolation and loneliness among people living with PD should consider the barriers restricting user’s social activities and technology use. Given the wide range of needs and barriers experienced by people living with PD, it is more suitable to adopt user-centered design approaches that emphasize the active participation of end users in the design process. Importantly, any ICT solution designed for people living with PD should not encourage internet addiction, which will further contribute to the person’s withdrawal from society.

This study investigates how education professionals balance their private and professional lives when using social technologies. Based on boundary theory and interviews with 57 education professionals, we identify which tactics they use to separate or integrate their private and professional life. We identified twice as many segmentation tactics compared to integration tactics and found that the education professionals struggled most with finding segmentation tactics that work. We argue that this is because social technologies are designed to support integration and therefore teachers using these technologies must work harder to separate their private and professional roles. There is a need to further investigate how boundary theory can be used, and segmentation tactics understood, when the object of study is social technology, which is specifically built to integrate time and professional and private spaces. For practice, there is a need to better support teachers in their use of social technologies.

Digital government often addresses how, where, and by whom digital transformation is brought into the complex institutional framed practices of governments and governance of society. However, digital transformation also points at critical demands to address the basic underlying institutional design of governments. The ongoing digital transformation of public welfare institutions opens for a gradual redesign of public institutions. It is important to address core values, such as inclusion, diversity, and literacy, to ensure a reflected transformation and re-design of public institutions. The purpose of this paper is to show how new forms of digital public services may have to be matched with institutional re-design to sustain public values and legitimate governments. We build on Ostrom’s eight design principles for institutional governance of common-pool resources and propose four principles for analyzing potential needs for re-design of institutions. Through a re-analysis of two case studies on automation in Swedish public organizations, we illustrate and discuss the institutional design. Hereby, we identify critical points for further analysis of emerging demands for institutional re-design. The analysis indicates that we must see beyond the organizational changes of digital government reforms and programs. We need to stretch into the institutional and foundational models of the public sector and how to provide equal and resilient welfare in a digital and changing world. We conclude by suggesting an agenda for research on institutional re-design in the digital era.

Misinterpretations and faulty use of Software Development Method (SDM) practices and principles are identified pitfalls in Software Development (SD). Previous research indicates cases with method adoption and use failures; one reason could be the SDM Cargo Cult (CC) behavior, where SD organizations claim to be agile but not doing agile. Previous research has suggested the SDM CC framework as an analytical tool. The aim of this paper is to refine the SDM CC framework and empirically test this version of the framework. We use data from an ethnographical study on three SD teams’ Daily Scrum Meetings (DSM). The empirical material was collected through observations, interviews, and the organization’s business documents. We uncovered twelve CC situations in the SD teams’ use of the DSM practice, structured into seven categories of SDM deviations: bringing irrelevant information, canceling meetings, disturbing the team, receiving unclear information, bringing new requirements, problem-solving, and task distribution.

Public organisations are starting to show an interest in automated decision-making (ADM). So far, existing research focuses on the governmental perspective on this phenomenon. Less attention is paid to citizens' views on ADM. The aim of this study is to provide empirical insights into citizen awareness of and beliefs about ADM in public-sector services. To this end, we participated in an annual national survey in Sweden carried out by the SOM Institute at Gothenburg University concluding that a minority of the citizens know about the use of ADM in public-sector services. Furthermore, when computers instead of civil servants make decisions in the public-sector, citizens expect decisions by computers to become less legally secure but more impartial. They also expect ADM to take personal circumstances into account to a lesser degree and become less transparent. Finally, we found that citizens with that awareness expect decisions by computers to become more reliable and impartial. Based on our empirical findings in relation to previous research, we suggest four hypotheses on citizen's awareness and beliefs about public-sector ADM.

Background: Advancements in science and various technologies have resulted in people having access to better health care, a good quality of life, and better economic situations, enabling humans to live longer than ever before. Research shows that the problems of loneliness and social isolation are common among older adults, affecting psychological and physical health. Information and communication technology (ICT) plays an important role in alleviating social isolation and loneliness. Objective: The aim of this review is to explore ICT solutions for reducing social isolation or loneliness among older adults, the purpose of ICT solutions, and the evaluation focus of these solutions. This study particularly focuses on customized ICT solutions that either are designed from scratch or are modifications of existing off-the-shelf products that cater to the needs of older adults. Methods: A scoping literature review was conducted. A search across 7 databases, including ScienceDirect, Association for Computing Machinery, PubMed, IEEE Xplore, PsycINFO, Scopus, and Web of Science, was performed, targeting ICT solutions for reducing and managing social isolation and loneliness among older adults. Articles published in English from 2010 to 2020 were extracted and analyzed. Results: From the review of 39 articles, we identified 5 different purposes of customized ICT solutions focusing on reducing social isolation and loneliness. These were social communication, social participation, a sense of belonging, companionship, and feelings of being seen. The mapping of purposes of ICT solutions with problems found among older adults indicates that increasing social communication and social participation can help reduce social isolation problems, whereas fulfilling emotional relationships and feeling valued can reduce feelings of loneliness. In terms of customized ICT solution types, we found the following seven different categories: social network, messaging services, video chat, virtual spaces or classrooms with messaging capabilities, robotics, games, and content creation and management. Most of the included studies (30/39, 77%) evaluated the usability and acceptance aspects, and few studies (11/39, 28%) focused on loneliness or social isolation outcomes. Conclusions: This review highlights the importance of discussing and managing social isolation and loneliness as different but related concepts and emphasizes the need for future research to use suitable outcome measures for evaluating ICT solutions based on the problem. Even though a wide range of customized ICT solutions have been developed, future studies need to explore the recent emerging technologies, such as the Internet of Things and augmented or virtual reality, to tackle social isolation and loneliness among older adults. Furthermore, future studies should consider evaluating social isolation or loneliness while developing customized ICT solutions to provide more robust data on the effectiveness of the solutions.

Given that there are an increasing number of information security breaches, organizations are being driven to adopt best practice for coping with attacks. Information security standards are designed to embody best practice and the legitimacy of these standards is a core issue for standardizing organizations. This study uncovers how structures at play in de jure standard development affect the input and throughput legitimacy of standards. We participated as members responsible for standards on information security and our analysis revealed two structures: consensus and warfare. A major implication of the combination of these structures is that legitimacy claims based on appeals to best practice are futile because it is difficult to know which the best practice is.

Whereas broad launch of public e-services ensures equal and homogenous treatment of citizens, citizen diversity is often set aside. By means of a literature study we describe how research has addressed diversity in the field of eGovernment. we analyzed the papers according to the following codes: group; application domain; unit of analysis; and technology in use or design. Results showed that the most common application domain was e-services with access and use as the most common units of analysis. The most frequently researched groups are based on classical socio-demographic variables such as economy, education and age. Also, the majority of papers discussed services in use. We conclude by suggesting that future research focuses underrepresented user groups; adds further granularity to the classical sociodemographic variables; identifies groups within groups; targets policies and policy implementation; and changes focus from use to development. We also call for conceptual clarity of the concept ‘diversity’.

Despite the importance of inter-organisational information sharing (IOIS) in the public sector, such endeavours often fail. Existing research has shown that the values held by collaborating organisations are one important factor affecting these kinds of initiatives. However, research has sought only to a limited extent to address how value conflicts come into play over time. Therefore, this paper aims to explore how conflicting values shape an inter-organisational information-sharing practice in the public sector over time. Using the local/global network framework, we analyse four years’ worth of information sharing in an inter-organisational advisory group in the context of Swedish nuclear waste management. We conclude that different value conflicts are emphasised to different extents at different points in time. That is, values do not uniformly affect IOIS activities, and such conflicts over time reduce the set of potential IOIS activities. We also conclude that when IOIS activities are driven by an individual organisation’s values, individual value rational activities may co-exist with a dysfunctional long-term IOIS practice.

In a digitalized society our work environment is highly integrated with our home environment making work boundless both in terms of time and space. The digital work environment risks increased stress. Based on a case study in Swedish schools we investigate how teachers experience the use of social media for work-related purposes. We do so by using the Technology Affordance and Constraints Theory to capture the affordances as well as constraints of this use. Findings show that affordances of social media in schools were increased opportunities for learning, transparency and community building. Constraints were distractions from learning, increased isolation, stress and, above all, lack of guidance in how and when to use social media. We end the paper arguing that lack of policies and guidelines governing the use of social media at work is risking an increase in boundary blurring and potentially more stress.

Information security standards are influential tools in society today. The validity claim of standards is based on what is considered "best practice." We unveil the negotiations that take place when "best practice" is constructed during standard development. By using discourse analysis, we investigate how power operates in national and international contexts of de jure information security standard development work. As members of a standardization committee, we analyzed the language used by this committee. The results showed two discourses at play: the consensus discourse and the warfare discourse. We conclude by proposing six theoretical propositions on how power operates in the above-mentioned contexts of de jure standard development.

The concept of digital divides has been on the agenda in research and policy making for at least the last 20 years. But it is still, a challenge to grasp this concept that is so elusive and transforming. Inclusion, access and equality are still key values for democratic governance and must be addressed in particular when forming and contributing to a digital government. This paper seeks to intervene in current debates on digital divides and digital inclusion by analyzing two cases of responses among street-level public administration in relation to e-government services in Sweden. The case studies are strategically chosen and conducted in national agencies and in local public libraries. Three lines of contributions are discussed, firstly the importance to care for equality secondly the need to see the non-users, and thirdly to discuss the potential of putting focus on digital diversity.

Purpose: To identify factors that influence the acceptance of technology for ageing in place by seniors in the post-implementation stage. This review is among very few that focus on acceptance in post-implementation phase. Methods: A literature review. We searched six databases (Cinahl, Medline, PsycINFO, PubMed, Science Direct, Scopus). Inclusion criteria were: 1) original and peer-reviewed research written in English, 2) Articles published in 2010-2018, 3) Empirical research papers, 4) Research in which participants are seniors aged above 60 years, 5) Research aimed at investigating factors that influence the acceptance of digital technology for ageing in place, 6) Research conducted in home environment, 7) Focus on post-implementation stage. Results: Twenty-three out of 2181 papers were included. The results show that acceptance of technology in the post-implementation stage is influenced by 36 factors, divided into six themes: concerns/problems regarding technology (technical errors, etc.), experienced positive characteristics of technology (e.g., ease of use factors, privacy implications), expected benefits of technology (e.g., increased safety, companionship, increased security, etc.), need for technology (e.g., perceived need to use), social influence (e.g., influence by peers, family or surroundings) and characteristics of older adults (e.g., past experiences/attitudes, physical environment). The articles considered different types of technology: health monitoring, ADL, safety and communication. The level of technology readiness for digital technologies supporting ageing in place in post-implementation stage is still low within the scientific literature, since only seven out of 23 articles studied mature technologies (TRL 8-9 of the technology readiness level scale). The majority of the studies were conducted in Western Europe or the US, and only two were conducted in other regions (Australia, and Taiwan). Qualitative and quantitative methods were equally used in the analysed articles. Conclusions: Acceptance of technology in the post-implementation stage is influenced by multiple factors. An interesting finding was that the seniors' views of technology change between the pre- and post-implementation stages. Some negative concerns that appeared in the pre-implementation stage appear as positive characteristics in the post-implementation stage. In the post-implementation stage, seniors realize the wide variety of benefits that technology can have on their lives. We expect that findings of this review can be utilised by academics and policy-makers for gaining insights for further research and successful implementation of technology for ageing in place.

Within an organization, it is critical that all employees possess a security awareness and thus play a part in the protection of said organization's information assets. Some employees will have key roles and responsibilities and require specific skills to support them. However, organizations can face challenges in regard to recognizing the required specialized skills as well as where to obtain them. For this reason, whether an organization chooses to hire new staff, developing existing staff, or outsource the activities altogether, it is necessary to know the type and level of expertise required. To this end, this chapter discusses the need for organizations to understand and identify the essential skills related to cybersecurity in order for their employees to develop core competencies in these areas.