Criação de valor público em projetos de governo digital: uma análise do ecossistema de serviços

Abstract

Digital government is being progressively used by public authorities as a synonym for efficiency, proposing more efficient and transparent management models, with process optimization, cost reduction, and access to data/services. However, value creation is observed, where citizens and stakeholders collaborate with beliefs, symbolic values, and experiences that shape trust and service usage. Public value creation emerges from negotiation and experiences between actors and organizations in the service ecosystem, through interdependence of convergent/divergent interests. The mere existence of a digital service is not enough: it does not come down to technological availability, but requires effective use by citizens and managers, generating positive value. Otherwise, the digital service can even become a barrier to access. The simple presence of a digital service does not guarantee efficiency. Although metrics like the number of attendances indicate operational gains, they do not capture full effectiveness nor value creation in a broader sense. Therefore, studying value creation must adopt a more comprehensive approach, going beyond quantitative indicators of attendance and satisfaction. However, a theoretical gap persists: How can public value be built and promoted in digital government projects, considering the Public Service Ecosystem Logic, from the macro (institutional), meso (service), micro (individual), and submicro (beliefs and values) levels? In this holistic multilevel perspective, the aim is to understand how digital government initiatives generate value through the Public Service Ecosystem (PSE), positioning the citizen as part of the process, not merely a client, filling this gap by adapting the model to the digital context. It integrates categories identified in a systematic literature review into a multilevel analytical framework, with key aspects for digital services. Given the above, and supported by the perspectives of public value in digital government and Public Service Ecosystem, the objective of this thesis is to analyze how public value is constructed and promoted through digital government projects, based on the Public Service Ecosystem approach, considering the interactions between macro, meso, micro, and submicro levels. The thesis is structured into seven chapters: introduction, methodology, four articles, and final considerations. This is qualitative research with exploratory and descriptive objectives, combining documentary analysis, empirical analysis, and field research. In Articles 1 and 2, theoretical reviews were conducted in databases: (i) bibliographic review of the public value concept; (2) systematic review on public value applied to digital government to identify key analysis aspects already used in recent studies on public value in digital government, contributing to the creation of the framework proposed in this thesis. In Article 3, an analytical framework was developed that integrates these key aspects of digital government (identified from the systematic literature review conducted in article 2) with the Public Service Ecosystem model, which allows a holistic view of public value creation at levels (macro, meso, micro, submicro) for empirical analysis. In Article 4, the framework was applied empirically to analyze public value creation by digital services offered by the Regional Electoral Court of Tocantins. The methodological steps by level were: (i) Macro: documentary analysis of resolutions, legislation, news, and institutional documents; (ii) Meso: interviews with technology and information managers, design, production, and service delivery; (iii) Micro: citizen satisfaction survey; and (iv) Submicro: data from the Regional Center for Studies on the Development of the Information Society. Through this analysis, it was found that although there is a consolidated normative and strategic structure at the macro level, misalignments persist that block the flow of value creation in digital government at the other levels. At the meso level, organizational challenges such as lack of citizen involvement in service design/production were found. At the micro level, it was identified that the user experience lacked personalization and consideration of needs. At the submicro level, there are trust/value tensions that shape usage and acceptance by citizens. This shows that fragility in interdependent relationships and lack of feedback block the continuous multilevel flow, preventing institutional guidelines from translating into coherent meso actions, personalized micro experiences, and submicro trust, empirically confirming that misalignments in this chain limit public value creation. Despite some notable misalignments, the case highlights striking positive aspects: the creation of innovative digital services that serve as examples for other states; awards for excellence in service delivery; promotion of social and digital inclusion; positive citizen experiences that reinforce democracy, trust, and institutional legitimacy; as well as gains in digital efficiency and bureaucracy reduction. This thesis, although relevant and current, presents limitations inherent to not including interviews with citizens, prioritizing institutional sources and documentary analyses. Nevertheless, it offers theoretical contributions through the integration of analytical and methodological lenses into a framework for analyzing value creation in digital public service ecosystems; analytical contributions by evidencing multilevel misalignments; and practical contributions with tools for public policies centered on public value.