Browsing by Author "Ranerup, Agneta"

Now showing 1 - 4 of 4

Användarmedverkan med representanter.
(1996282) Ranerup, Agneta
Discretion, automated decision-making and public values: Background and test of an approach for unpacking human and technological agency
(2022) Ranerup, Agneta; Svensson, Lupita
This study aims to develop a theoretical and analytical approach for studying discretion, automated decision-making (ADM) and the consequential public values. This is achieved through our proposed approach, an overview of literature and an empirical test. The context of our empirical test is decisions made about economic support in social work. The research questions are as follows: 1) What are the relevant components in a theoretical and analytical approach with this specific aim? 2) How does human, non-human and joint, ‘hybrid’, agency influence digital discretion and the consequential public values in social work? 3) What are the usefulness and prospective problems with the approach? Our approach enhances the understanding of the ground for discretion in ADM, which is seen as an emergent routine in the form of knowledge about process, and the details of human and non-human actors involved in relation to consequential public values. To develop its usefulness, the approach should primarily be applied in multiple case studies of ‘ín-between’ contexts, such as social work, to generate a theory of the role of human and non-human agency in the consequential public values of ADM.
ICT and discretion: An “up-to-date” view of what we want to know and how it can be studied
(Presented at 20th Scandinavian Workshop on E-Government (SWEG): From Government automation to AI, 1-2 February, 2023, Örebro University., 2023) Ranerup, Agneta
The discretion of street-level bureaucrats is increasingly affected by public sector digitalisation. The aim of this study was to provide a scoping review with “state of the art” of research about information and communication technology (ICT) and discretion for the period January 2017–October 2022. The specific emphasis was on the methodologies used in research targeting ICT and discretion to provide ideas for future research. Street-level bureaucrats’ managing and copying, surveys of their attitudes and the more direct influence of ICT on discretion and literature reviews in various contexts often related to public values were common themes in research. A repertoire of research approaches was used: case studies with or without empirical data, more and less structured literature reviews, surveys with or without experiments and document analyses. In contrast to an oft-cited literature review of digital discretion from 2018, the far most common types of technology were artificial intelligence. A number of approaches for describing technology were often based on sociotechnical theories or similar. Few studies provided detailed descriptions of the more specific role of technology. However, inspiring examples were found of how to bring forward aspects of the full decision process or the infrastructure with all the appearing technologies. This result could serve as an inspiration for reflections about what we should describe and what we should want to understand in studies about ICT and discretion, as well as to highlight gaps in research. Important examples are the ´design dimension´ of discretion both in terms of the being specific about the full repertoire of the appearing technologies and the humans that influence the design. A critical mass of studies with more detailed descriptions of technologies is needed to generate a theoretical understanding.
The Role of Discretion from the Perspective of Social Work Professionalism and Automated Decision Making
(2022) Svensson, Lupita; Ranerup, Agneta
This article addresses the gap in knowledge about how new digital technology affects decision making and social caseworkers’ professionalism. The aim is to enhance the understanding of how digital discretion—as a result of introducing automated decision making (ADM) in social assistance—affects the roles, work processes and professional judgements of social caseworkers in the provision of social assistance. Based on social caseworkers’ experiences of their work processes and interactions with digital- isation, our research question is as follows: What changes have social caseworkers observed in their use of discretion and professional judgement in decision making? The empirical data consist of qualitative semi-structured interviews with social caseworkers and their team leaders, combined with text analysis of policy documents from five municipalities in Sweden which have implemented ADM in their handling of social assistance. The results show that the use of ADM can give more time for meetings with clients and that the use of discretion is experienced as more secure in relation to social caseworkers’ experience of making the right decision. However, the findings also show that digitalisation must be seen from a holistic perspective that involves all components of the technological infrastructure and the significance of the individual parts of the implemented technology to the whole. The concept of discretion needs to be studied and discussed in depth in relation to digitalisation and professionalism and including clients.