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This study aims to estimate the value of the impact from digital transformation (DX) focusing on its automation effect, looking at the time and cost savings coming from the substitution effect with an adoption of digital technologies. For example, cloud and artificial intelligence technologies such as ChatGPT have the potential to change ways of working, substituting and replacing several of the tasks that are currently carried out by public administration (PA) employees and labor processes underpinning PA services.

The paper outlines a new framework to estimate the potential impact of DX on the public sector. The authors apply this framework to estimate the value of the impact of DX on the Italian PA, defining the latter by the collection of the value of its labor (i.e. PA workforce salaries) and by the collection of the value of its outputs (i.e. public services’ costs).

This study ultimately maps out the magnitude and trends of how likely the PA occupations and services could be substituted in a wider process of DX. To do this, the authors apply their framework to the Italian PA, and they triangulate secondary data collection, from official accounts of the Italian Ministry of Economics and the National Statistical Institute, with methodological antecedents from the UK Office for National Statistics and experts’ insights. Results provide a snapshot on the type and magnitude of PA jobs and services projected to be affected by automation over the next 10 years.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper provides for the first time an approach to estimate the value of the impact of DX on the public sector in a data-constrained environment – or in the lack of the required primary data. Once applied to the Italian PA, this approach provides a granular map of the automatability of each of the PA occupations and of the PA services. Finally, this paper mentions preliminary insights on potential challenges related to equity in public sector jobs and implications on recruitment processes.

The concept of collaboration has received increased attention from scholars in public management, as it has been seen as a viable solution to address “wicked” problems. Solving such problems may require a horizontal collaboration within the same governmental jurisdiction or, vertically, between different levels of government. Despite broad interest from the field of public management, the dynamics of public interinstitutional collaboration have received little attention within the literature. This paper aims to provide a systematic overview of the most significant academic contributions on the topic, highlighting the features of this collaborative context and identifying determinants those can foster its performance.

In total, two main literature streams have occasionally dealt with public interinstitutional collaboration and related performance management: the “collaborative governance” stream and “public network performance”. Through a systematic literature review (SLR), this paper answers the following research question: what has been done and what is missing in order to assess performance in the context of public interinstitutional collaboration?

The findings of this study suggest that the most relevant papers are those dealing with public interagency collaboration, as this form of collaboration presents several similarities with public interinstitutional circumstances. Furthermore, the authors provide an analysis of the main determinants of public interinstitutional performance, which highlight the effects of trust, power sharing, leadership style, management strategies and formalization on the achievement of efficient and effective collaboration between public entities.

By drawing on two autonomous literature streams, this paper describes the main features of public interinstitutional collaboration. It contributes to the field by offering a systematic overview of how specific performance determinants, which are widely recognized as relevant for collaboration in general, work in the specificity of public–public contexts.