Lecture
Algorithms at the frontline: Making sense of automated decision-making in public administrations
- Date
- Monday 12 January 2026
- Time
- Location
- Kamerlingh Onnes Building
Steenschuur 25
2311 ES Leiden - Room
- A051 - Grotius room
Abstract of the lecture:
Automation is increasingly integrated into public sector organizational processes, reshaping how decisions are made and how discretion is practiced between public officials and citizens. In this lecture, I will explore how automation transforms decision-making in public administrations, including positive examples and opportunities for increased efficiencies but also challenges, risks and tensions with existing values and structures. This lecture is positioned at the intersection of public administration, information systems, and the automation and AI bodies of literature, which will be contrasted with practical examples of automated decision-making from several countries.
Building on the above-mentioned literature bases and practical examples, I will present a study that clarifies pathways through which automated decision-making influences the “decision space” between public officials and citizens. This study examines different societal and organizational structures that shape individual attitudes related to automated decision-making, and these attitudes in turn could affect individual actions that collectively reshape existing structures. The study also highlights existing knowledge gaps and suggests ways forward on understanding how discretion, transparency, and citizen participation are affected by increasing automation. One of the main arguments for a revised decision space in the public sector is that carefully examining these dynamics can support the development of more citizen-centered decision-making practices and hybrid human–AI approaches that maintain meaningful human involvement.
After showing that implementing automation in public administration demands attention not only to technological performance but also to the decisions, social processes, and institutional conditions within which decisions are embedded, the lecture is concluded by providing some recommendations on how to tackle these tensions going forward. This is positioned in a historical perspective of technological progress and how previous waves of major technological changes triggered, and necessitated, major changes on organizational and societal structures.
Suggested readings
- Kronblad, C., Essén, A., & Mähring, M. (2024). When Justice is Blind to Algorithms: Multilayered Blackboxing of Algorithmic Decision Making in the Public Sector. MIS Quarterly, 48(4), 1637–1662.
- Ranerup, A., & Svensson, L. (2023). Automated decision-making, discretion and public values: A case study of two municipalities and their case management of social assistance. European Journal of Social Work.
- Rinta-Kahila, T., Someh, I., Gillespie, N., Indulska, M., & Gregor, S. (2022). Algorithmic decision-making and system destructiveness: A case of automatic debt recovery. European Journal of Information Systems, 31(3), 313–338.
- Rizk, A., & Lindgren, I. (2025). Automated decision-making in public administration: Changing the decision space between public officials and citizens. Government Information Quarterly, 42(3), 102061.
- Tangi, L., Rodriguez Müller, P., Rizk, A. & Lindgren, I. (2024) Unveiling the power shifts: A typological framework for the impact of AI on administrative decision-making (December 03, 2024). Available here
- Wihlborg, E., Larsson, H., & Hedström, K. (2016). “ The Computer Says No!”–A Case Study on Automated Decision-Making in Public Authorities. 2016 49th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS), 2903–2912.
Recommended books
- Kaun, A., & Masso, A. (2025). The Data Welfare State. Sage Publications Ltd.
- Vinge, S., & Fjaestad, M. (Eds) (2025). Algorithmic Rule: AI and the future of democracy in Sweden and beyond. FEPS.
- Johnson, S., & Acemoglu, D. (2023). Power and Progress: Our Thousand-Year Struggle Over Technology and Prosperity. Hachette UK.
About the speaker
Aya Rizk is a Senior Lecturer of Information Systems, Linköping University, Sweden. Her research is focused on the digitalization and datafication of organizations, both in the public and private sectors. She studies how digital technologies and data drive change and alter the nature of work, such as in decision-making and innovation initiatives. Rizk's work is published in journals such as Government Information Quarterly, the European Journal of Innovation Management and the Journal of Big Data, as well as in proceedings of IS conferences (e.g., AMCIS, HICSS) and digital government conferences (e.g., IFIP EGOV).