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Digital Transformations of Public Administration in the Context of the COVID-19 Pandemic: EU Countries Case Study

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 April 2024

Nataliia Savchenko
Affiliation:
Ministry of Economy of Ukraine, Kyiv, Ukraine. Email: nataliiasavchenko657@gmail.com
Oleksandr Fedirko
Affiliation:
Department of European Economy and Business, Faculty of International Economics and Management, Kyiv National Economic University named after Vadym Hetman, Kyiv, Ukraine
Hanna Muravytska
Affiliation:
The Informative and Library Department, Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, Kyiv, Ukraine
Nataliia Fedirko
Affiliation:
Department of National Economy and Public Administration, Faculty of Economics and Management at Kyiv National Economic University named after Vadym Hetman, Kyiv, Ukraine
Oksana Nemyrovska
Affiliation:
Department of Economics, Entrepreneurship and Business Administration, Faculty of Taxation, Accounting and Audit, State Tax University, Irpin, Ukraine

Abstract

The digital transformation of public administration and public services has become an urgent need for many governments around the world. This article aims to explore the homogeneity and pace of digital transformation of public administration through the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and to identify problems and forecasts of research processes at the EU level. The method of cluster analysis was used to study the similarity of the digital transformation of public administration in the EU. The pace of digitalization of public administration in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic was studied through trend analysis. The results show that the EU countries, according to the level of public administration digitalization, are grouped into five clusters, between which there are significant digital gaps. The COVID-19 pandemic has widened the gaps, potentially impacting the EU’s strategy for digitalizing society and establishing e-government. Public e-services usage in 2020 to 2021 is higher than predicted by trend analysis for 2009 to 2019. This suggests an acceleration of digitalization in the EU during the COVID-19 pandemic. The proposed technique can be used to predict the level of digitization of any country or group of countries.

Type
Article
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2024. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Academia Europaea Ltd

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