Digital transformation of the public sector using the example of the heritage sector

This cumulative dissertation examines the digital transformation of the public sector using the example of the heritage sector. It gives an empirically grounded account of the transformative processes and presents instruments that facilitate this transformation in practical settings.
At the core of the dissertation is the Open GLAM Benchmark Survey. The data gathered from 1560 heritage institutions in 11 countries show that the observed transformative processes result in increasingly integrated services, participatory approaches, and an emerging collaborative culture. These developments are accompanied by a break-up of proprietary data silos and their replacement with a commonly shared data infrastructure, allowing data to be freely shared, inter-linked and re-used. It argues that some of the transformations observed represent a breakaway from the New Public Management paradigm.
It adapts and applies various instruments for leading change to the heritage sector and argues that the ecosystem metaphor is particularly well suited as an instrument to guide the digital transformation in its current phase. On a methodological level, it makes significant improvements to existing instruments and proposes an analytical framework for digital ecosystem governance. The framework is based on a condensed version of the state of the art from the literature and has been corroborated by data from an empirical case. The dissertation concludes by suggesting that complementary research should be carried out with a focus on the evolution of democracy and political participation, the establishment of trustworthy data spaces, and the widespread use of artificial intelligence.

2025

dissertation

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