TRANSFORMAÇÃO DIGITAL NO SETOR PÚBLICO: UM ESTUDO SOBRE A RESISTÊNCIA DO USUÁRIO AO SISTEMA PGC DO GOVERNO FEDERAL

Abstract

The use of technology has caused a revolution in public organizations in recent decades and has required a change of mindset in how services are delivered. This demand has led the public sector to conduct digital transformation initiatives that, by exploring new digital technologies, can bring benefits to its operations, involving services and processes, organizational structures and new management concepts. In conducting these initiatives, public institutions have faced difficulties in the implementation of programs or projects, among which stands out the resistance of users of new systems that require other ways of executing activities. The lack of knowledge and understanding of the sources of resistance can compromise the success of initiatives, and even make them unfeasible, which suggests the importance of the role of resistance in local digital developments. The central objective of this study is to investigate the sources of user resistance and infer how they could hinder the implementation of information systems in the context of digital transformation in public sector organizations. This exploratory study brings contributions of a substantive nature, insofar as the examination of the sources of resistance in the context of digital transformation in public organizations, from the theoretical dimensions related to "personal factors," "system design" and "interaction," can support proposals for approaches that can reduce the resistance of information system users. The research findings reveal that even an information system evaluated as intelligent, intuitive and interactive is subject to user resistance, and that user resistance to information systems stems predominantly from internal factors (personal factors) and very timidly from external factors (system design), reinforcing the idea that digital transformation is more related to the change of strategic mindset than to factors related strictly to technology, and indicating that the simple introduction or improvement of technology does not necessarily mean digitally transforming organizations. Finally, academic and managerial implications related to public management, the limitations of the research, and recommendations for future studies were presented.