Abstract

In recent decades, digital transformation processes have enabled unprecedented dissemination and access to information in society, and previously unimaginable levels of participation and interaction by citizens. This sudden process of change, facilitated by new technologies, has also caused significant transformations in public organizations, impacting both processes and the relationship with citizens. Public administrations are increasingly relying on different types of social media, such as microblogs, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and other social platforms to improve relations between the public sector and citizens, ensure new forms of content sharing, and increase the participation and collaboration of citizens themselves. This rapid organizational change has also impacted how public employees work and perceive their administrations and has sparked new interest in whether, and how, digital platforms improve internal processes and facilitate the work of managers and public employees. This paper explores the effectiveness of implementing and using digital platforms in the public sector, with a specific focus on the role that social media can play in improving public decisionmaking processes and the quality of public services. We used a structured questionnaire to ask Italian public employees about the potential of, and critical issues around, social media use in the public sector. Logistic regression analysis was used to analyze the data. The paper has two main objectives. From a theoretical point of view, this paper enriches the literature on the use of new technologies in the public sector, expanding the discussion regarding organizational changes generated by the ongoing digital transformation and decision-making processes in public administration. Secondly, the paper highlights the key aspects that influence the effectiveness and usefulness of social media in decision-making and the impact they have on public services offered to citizens, and thus provides valuable reflections on the managerial levers to be used for practical implementation in the public context