The role of digital post systems in transforming public administration: A digital infrastructure perspective

The digital transformation of public administration is a complex endeavor aimed at improving efficiency, strengthening public trust, and advancing democratic values. A significant, yet underexplored facet of this transformation pertains to the digital post system, which enables secure digital communication between the public administration and citizens. Despite its centrality in delivering end-to-end digital services, digital post systems have received limited scholarly attention. Existing studies often focus broadly on digital communication, neglecting the infrastructural and strategic roles such systems can play. The present study investigates the manner in which digital post systems contribute to the digital transformation of public administration by acting as shared digital infrastructures. We conduct a case study of digital post systems in three countries: Denmark, Estonia, and Germany. Building on 21 semi-structured interviews with 18 interview partners and publicly available data, we identify three roles that digital post systems can assume: digitization enabler, process integrator, and ecosystem catalyst. Additionally, we examine four underlying generative mechanisms that enable these roles and their contributions to digital transformation: adoption, innovation, scaling, and legitimation. Our study contributes to the extant literature by offering a novel conceptualization of digital post systems, highlighting their strategic value as digital infrastructures that shape and sustain digital transformation efforts in public administration.