Automated decision-making, discretion and public values: a case study of two municipalities and their case management of social assistance

Agneta Ranerup · Lupita Svensson

31 citations0/0 files storedEuropean Journal of Social Work

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Ethics and Social Impacts of AI E-Government and Public Services Social Work Education and Practice

Abstract

Our aim is to increase knowledge about discretion and automated decision-making (ADM) in social work based on an approach that brings forward the role of humans and technologies and the resulting public values.This approach is applied to a case study of two Swedish municipalities and their social assistance case management.Our research questions are twofold: (1) How do humans and technologies appear in decisions about social assistance?and (2) How do they influence digital discretion and the resulting public values?A case management process with human actors (caseworkers and clients) and non-human actors (case management systems, e-applications, robotic process automation and algorithms) is used, influencing the digital discretion of caseworkers and the resulting ethical, democratic and professional values.Digital discretion is not dichotomous but, rather, related to a repertoire of technologies, their design and their use in a routine that ADM is a part of.The interaction with clients may be considered an important rationale for ADM itself.There is a necessary difference in weight between public values related to more straightforward (an 'improved' process enabling professional values) and complicating factors (distrust between caseworkers and the unwanted use of information technology). ABSTRAKTVårt syfte är att öka kunskapen om handlingsutrymme och automatiserat beslutsfattande (ADM) i socialt arbete baserat på en analysmodell som lyfter fram mänskliga och icke-mänskliga aktörers roll och de offentliga värden som uppstår.Denna modell tillämpas på en fallstudie av två svenska kommuner och deras ärendehantering av socialbidrag.Våra forskningsfrågor är: (1) Hur framträder mänskliga, icke-mänskliga och samarbetande, 'hybrid' aktörer i beslut om socialbidrag?(2) Hur påverkar de det digitala handlingsutrymmet och de offentliga värden som blir resultatet?En ärendehanteringsrutin med mänskliga aktörer (jfr handläggare, klienter) och icke-mänskliga aktörer

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References

1986Power, Action and Belief. A New Sociology of Knowledge?2016Thinking critically about and researching algorithms 2019The public value of E-Government – A literature review 2004Street-Level Bureaucracy, Social Work and the (Exaggerated) Death of Discretion 1996Case study research: a multi‐faceted research approach for IS 2014ICT, public values and transformative government: A framework and programme for research 2019Artificial Intelligence, Discretion, and Bureaucracy 2003Integrating Values into Public Service: The Values Statement as Centerpiece

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