Research projects

In the digital transformation of public organizations, a central element is often overlooked: the employees who drive these change processes, are affected by them, or even block them. Digitalization may ease their workload, simplify the administrative process, and allow for more flexible working conditions, however, digitalization also can lead to the fear of redundancies, a lack of reskilling, technophobia, or even professional alienation as jobs begin to shift towards the digital era – leaving some behind.

An instrument that is used in practice more often in recent years to overcome resistance to digital change, is the role of change agents (and in our specific case so-called “Digitallotsen”). Change agents are individuals who take an active role in driving digitalization in large organizations also coined as digital agents or digital champions. Current research, however, examines digital champions as individuals in traditional roles of the Chief Information Officer, managers, and ICT experts mirroring the common top-down hierarchical nature of public sector organizations. This project challenges this understanding by incorporating the active roles of employees interested in driving the process from the ground up. Using theories of social support and learning from role models, we want to examine co-worker support (both availability and enacted support by the change agents) and its impact on change readiness and acceptance, digital literacy, self-efficacy, and public employees’ trust related to digitalization and their future workplace. 

This research received funding from the European Academy of Management and the and Friedrich-Naumann-Foundation.

Public health does not stop at the border, as the COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated. And yet, hospitals close to the border face the challenge of providing high-quality care with limited resources. That is where resource pooling becomes crucial.  

Resource pooling encompasses a set of tools and strategies for coordinating and sharing resources within and between organizations. Organizations pool resources to reduce gaps between the resources that they have and the services they need to provide. Furthermore, resource pooling reduces waste by making it unnecessary for organizations to stockpile resources. Through resource pooling, hospitals along the German-Dutch border can rapidly obtain necessary resources in the case of a sudden emergency. For patients, this means shorter distances and faster access to specialized care. For the region, it means healthier citizens and more resilient communities. 

BRIDGE identifies opportunities for coordinated cross-border resource pooling, develops and implements a digital platform to facilitate this and provides input for relevant policy decisions. 

BRIDGE is funded by Interreg Deutschland-Nederland. Caroline Fischer was the initiator and founding principal investigator of the project at the University of Twente. Since her move to the University of Kassel, she serves as an associate partner and external advisor to the project.