Making apps, owning data: Digital sovereignty and public authorities’ arrangements to “byte” back

This study tells the story of two public transport authorities (PTA) in Sweden who developed their own apps. Although this might seem trivial and far-detached from the critical issues discussed in organization studies, this story raises questions of great relevance for this field, namely how digital...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inOrganization (London, England)
Main Authors Paulsson, Alexander, Fred, Mats
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published 10.04.2024
Subjects
Apps
assemblage theory
Business Administration
digital artifacts
digital sovereignty
Economics and Business
Ekonomi och näringsliv
Företagsekonomi
public transport
Samhällsvetenskap
Social Sciences
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Summary:This study tells the story of two public transport authorities (PTA) in Sweden who developed their own apps. Although this might seem trivial and far-detached from the critical issues discussed in organization studies, this story raises questions of great relevance for this field, namely how digital sovereignty is organized. Digital sovereignty refers to governments trying to take or regain power and control over “the digital,” which a small group of large tech companies have monopolized. Drawing on a 3 year qualitative study of app making, and using assemblage theory, this study shows that digital sovereignty is not only about controlling software development or data ownership, but also about re-configuring the organization in relation to digital artifacts such as apps. By bypassing procurement procedures and paralleling their IT-departments, the PTAs here display how digital sovereignty comes from “below,” originating from frustrated civil servants within the public authorities who literally tried to “byte back” in a digital world run by large tech companies.
ISSN:1350-5084
1461-7323
DOI:10.1177/13505084241246073