Digital skills within the public sector: a missing link to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Antonio Cordella, Francesco Gualdi and Mindel van de Laar

LSE Research Online Documents on Economics from London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library

Abstract: Academic literature has mostly discussed digital skills concerning end-users’ capability to access and use single technologies. Against this background, the paper sheds light on a missing element: the digital literacy of those who frame ICT-mediated policies that pursue sustainable development. The paper offers a novel conceptualization of digital skills as the capabilities to understand the socio-technical assemblages that emerge in social contexts after the adoption of ICT-mediated policies. Exploring the case study of the United Kingdom’s Government Digital Service, the paper argues that empowering public administrators and civil servants with these digital skills is paramount to design, implement, and manage ICT-mediated policies that aim to achieve Sustainable Development Goals.

Keywords: digital services; digital skills; public sector; Sustainable Development Goals; AAM requested (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J01 R14 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 21 pages
Date: 2024-02-20
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-env, nep-eur, nep-ict and nep-inv
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Published in Information Polity, 20, February, 2024, 29(1), pp. 13 - 33. ISSN: 1570-1255

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