Public e-services from inside: a case study on technology's influence on work conditions in a government agency

Public e-services from inside: a case study on technology's influence on work conditions in a government agency, 2013, Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to discuss the consequences of citizens' increased use of public e-services for agency employees' work situation. Design/methodology/approach: In order to accomplish the purpose of the paper the authors focus on the way in which the increased use of public e-services also implies internal process and routine changes in public administration. The authors analyze work conditions for case officers at a government agency in Sweden by applying occupational ideal types to identify the specific work conditions in the studied case. The case study is based on qualitative data collected with a back office perspective. Findings: The findings indicate a new hybrid-organization where the increased use of e-services challenges earlier demands for competence. The transformation of e-government has implications for job codification, rule observation, job specification, and interaction with the general public. Originality/value: The paper extends the knowledge on how the increased use of public e-services affects back-office work conditions, with an increased high level of complexity in work content, but with low level of work autonomy. It argues that studying back-office work conditions is an important management issue in public administration research as well as practice.