In recent years, digitalisation constitutes one of the main reforms for both external service delivery as well as internal processes of local governments (LG) all over Europe (Kuhlmann & Marienfeldt, 2023). Often, the “success” of digitalisation reforms is evaluated in measuring online services and comparing countries or municipalities in benchmarks, which often neglect the context and purpose (Skargren, 2020). However, there is a need for systematic, comparative, theoretically grounded studies to understand similarities and differences among implementation challenges (Haug et al., 2023, p. 17).

Based on empirical data gathered in the context of the DIGILOG project , we investigate the digital transformation at the local level across various European countries with different administrative profiles (Kuhlmann et al., 2025), namely France, Germany, and the UK. With this comparative analysis we aim to reveal different approaches to digitalisation in varying country contexts proceeding from the assumption that the institutional ‘starting conditions’ of digitalisation matter for its effects. We apply a policy-focused approach, treating administrative digitalisation as an administrative or institutional policy (Christensen et al., 2002; Kuhlmann & Heuberger, 2021; Marienfeldt et al., 2024b) which allows us to draw on pertinent concepts and analytical tools used in policy research (see Jann, 2001; Kuhlmann & Wayenberg, 2016; Veit et al., 2019).

Our research is guided by the following research question: What are major characteristics regarding governance structures, policies, and effects of administrative digitalisation at the local level from a country-comparative perspective?

Our analytical framework includes:

(1) Digitalisation governance: Organisation of and responsibility for administrative digitalisation at different levels of government and local autonomy,

(2) Digitalisation policy: Policy instruments, dominant steering approach and overall approach,

(3) Digitalisation effects: Outputs (digital maturity of internal and external digitalisation) and outcomes (digital divide and structural reorganisation), including un-intended consequences.

Key findings from the study reveal significant disparities in and different approaches to the digital transformation of local government across European countries, with some countries pursuing a radical approach (UK) while others apply a more incremental approach (France, Germany). Moreover, the research identifies critical features shaping the local digitalisation, including intergovernmental relations and central-local coordination (especially in France and Germany) and central government funding. Additionally, the study highlights the role of local government in compensating for unintended effects of mandatory digitalisation and reorganisation of public administration, e.g. to support citizens that are excluded from accessing digital public services.

Theoretically, we contribute to the literature of local government research and of digitalisation of public administration. First, we exemplify both positive/intended and negative/unintended local-level digitalisation reform effects with regard to performance and quality of local service delivery and show how the role of local government is reshaped. In addition, by triangulating both qualitative data and a large-scale quantitative dataset, we identify appropriate assessment methods and reliable databases to evaluate local government reforms in different countries.

Second, we contribute to the digitalisation literature more broadly by adding a more comprehensive, qualitative perspective to the existing literature of single country case studies or normative benchmarks. We propose an analytical framework that can be applied to categorize and systematically compare other countries' paths in future research. Future research could apply our proposed analytical framework to other countries, especially from other regional and historical contexts. By examining a greater variety of cases, the most crucial similarities and differences could be identified and thus, reducing the analytical dimensions and consolidating the framework.

The development of digital technology has the potential to fundamentally reshape the workings of public administrations. In this, local governments hold a particularly significant role, as they are the level of government closest to the citizen and responsible for a large fraction of public service delivery. However, even though there is a growing body of literature on the subject, the antecedents of a higher level of digital transformation are not yet properly understood. Existing literature on the subject consists either of case studies or is otherwise limited in size, with a profound lack of large-scale analyses that can provide more widely applicable results. This paper seeks to remedy this by providing a large quantitative analysis of the causes of the digital transformation based on a dataset on 2950 local administrations spread across the member states of the Council of Europe. This data is raised in a survey among the heads of local administrations and an automated analysis of local government websites using a webcrawler part of the Digital Transformation at the Local Tier of Government in Europe (DIGILOG) research project. The paper looks at the digital transformation from the perspective of innovation diffusion theory, defining digitalization measures as a specific case of technological process innovations and the digital transformation as the sum of these measures and their wider impacts. Based upon this theory, the paper aims to find the most important predictors for the level of digital transformation in local governments, with a particular focus on economic and organizational variables. This is achieved using a multi-step quantitative analysis, which uses a multiple linear regression approach in parallel with LASSO (Least Absolute Shrinkage and Selection Operator) models. LASSO is a factor selection technique that is relatively new to the social sciences but has been shown to outperform linear regression in a range of metrics. It is particularly useful to determine which variables are the most important predictors for variance in an outcome variable and may thus improve upon results achievable through conventional regression techniques. The paper will thus be able to show which factors determine the level of the digital transformation of local governments, providing valuable knowledge to practitioners and filing an important gap in the literature.

Slovakia, as some other countries, has significantly fragmented system of local self-government (almost 3000 municipalities for 5,5 mil. inhabitants). The theory suggests that small municipalities with hundreds of inhabitants have very limited own capacity to deliver local public services within their scope of responsibility (in-house production), especially if the service is more complex (like waste management). The externalisation of the production of a service is the obvious solution in such cases and intermunicipal cooperation a possible option. The already existing data in the international literature (like Bel and Gradus, 2018 or Bel et al, 2014) suggest that intermunicipal cooperation may be the lowest costs delivery form for local public services.

The goal of our research is the comprehensive evaluation of intermunicipal cooperation as the method of alternative service delivery for selected local public services in Slovakia. The data will be collected by the questionnaire from a (statistically significant) sample of Slovak municipalities. The data collected should enable us to determine the scope of the use of intermunicipal cooperation in the delivery of local public services, to deliver the costs comparisons, and to determine the factors and barriers for intermunicipal cooperation in the delivery of local public services in Slovakia as the main focus of the text.

References

[1] BEL, G. GRADUS, R. 2018. Privatisation, contracting-out and inter-municipal cooperation: new developments in local public service delivery. Local Government Studies, 44(1), 11 – 21.

[2] BEL, G., FAGEDA, X., MUR, M. 2014. Does Cooperation Reduce Service Delivery Costs? Evidence from Residential Solid Waste Services. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 24, 85–107.

The external control of the Hungarian municipal finances has been based on the traditional, continental dual model: the State Audit Office of Hungary has been responsible for the professional control of these finances and the legal supervision of the decisions and procedures of municipal finances has been performed by the County (Capital) Government Offices. My presentation will analyse how this ecosystem has been transformed during the last decade, and how the central government control has been strengthened. First of all, the enhanced legal supervision will be examined, and the new tools on the control of municipal debts introduced by the Act on the Local Self-governments in Hungary (2011) and by the Act on Financial Stability of Hungary (2011). Similarly, I would like to examine the blurring of boundaries between professional and legal control and supervision. In that part I would like to focus on a new tool of the central government agency: the control on the budgetary planning and the actual incomes of the municipa budget performed by the county (capital) government offices. Similarly, the complementary elements of this system, such as the inspection competences of the Hungarian State Treasury will be reviewed. The impact of the new, innovative forms of financial supervision will be even analysed. Such a new form is the obligatory use of the centralised Apllication Service Provider (ASP) system, which allows to the Hungarian State Treasury to check the municipal revenues and expenditures in a real-time system. Thus, new legal tools, the blurring boundaries between legal and professional supervision of municipal finances and the new, centralised platform for municopal finances have a significant impact on the Hungarian municipal system, which is worth to analyse.