Platformization of the public sector: Assessing the space of possibility for participation

Abstract

Digitalization processes are emerging as a promising avenue to elicit participation in large-scale platforms. In the public sector, platformization efforts call for deeper insight into how they shape the space of possibility for citizen involvement through decision linkages. Based on an ongoing exploratory study of the early-stage development of a digital platform at a Norwegian municipality, we identify three core challenges to participation in platformization processes: the municipality experts’ views on participation, the cultivation of the installed base on the governance and technical level, and opportunities for scaling up the platform. We analyze how these core challenges impact the space of possibility for participation.