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Integration of RPA in Public Services: A Tension Approach to the Case of Income Support in Sweden

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Service Automation in the Public Sector

Part of the book series: Progress in IS ((PROIS))

Abstract

The purpose of this chapter is to identify and analyze key tensions in the governance, the management, and the organization of RPA-practices in public services. Key tensions will be analyzed in an agency–structure framework and using empirical data on introduction of RPA-tools in income support services in three Swedish municipalities. The analysis will be guided by two research questions: what tensions underly RPA-integration by actors in their practices; and how these tensions can be understood based on an agency–structure framework. The findings discuss issues such as coordination dilemmas in decentralized structures, different interpretations of the legal frames, standardization versus individualization logics of the profession, trust versus control mechanisms, but also elements of municipal innovation and accommodation of case processing when RPA is integrated into income support services.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    SALAR: Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions.

  2. 2.

    Applicants to income support benefits.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Management and Engineering, Linkö** University, Linkö**, Sweden

    Mariana S. Gustafsson

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  1. Mariana S. Gustafsson
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Correspondence to Mariana S. Gustafsson .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Borås, Borås, Sweden

    Gustaf Juell-Skielse

  2. Linkö** University, Linkö**, Sweden

    Ida Lindgren

  3. Halmstad University, Halmstad, Sweden

    Maria Åkesson

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Gustafsson, M.S. (2022). Integration of RPA in Public Services: A Tension Approach to the Case of Income Support in Sweden. In: Juell-Skielse, G., Lindgren, I., Åkesson, M. (eds) Service Automation in the Public Sector. Progress in IS. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-92644-1_6

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