Know-how to lead digital transformation: The case of local governments

Abstract Local governments are in an ideal position to integrate government, private, and citizen data to deliver beneficial new digitally enabled public services. However, progress toward achieving the benefits has stagnated in many cases. This is because managers lack the requisite know-how to lead the implementation and enactment of integrated enterprise systems to improve the processes of public service delivery, part of a journey called ‘digital transformation’. If digital transformations are to progress, we need more nuanced empirical elaboration of the know-how managers require. To that end, this study reports evidence from case studies in 11 local governments in Canada. The findings provide the empirical basis for a theory of the know-how managers require to lead the implementation and enactment of integrated enterprise systems in support of digital transformation. We then propose a new theoretical model of how to transfer that requisite know-how to managers through public-private partnerships, and thereby mitigate barriers to that transfer.