Digitalization in the Public Management: Turkish Public Institutions Example

Introduction

Due to insufficient investment and lack of capital in private sector, many services have been provided to citizens by public institutions for a long time. Even though many services called public services have been transferred to the private sector today, the public still provides many services to citizens. Public institutions have long been criticized for their rigid management approach and closed management in the twentieth century. Criticisms about the difficulty of accessing public services, the delay of the public in responding to developing events, the difficulty of accessing information in the public sector, and the bureaucratic and time-consuming structure of public transactions have been voiced for a long time. Although the improvement steps taken in response to these criticisms were not effective for a long time, there has been a significant improvement and acceleration in public services recently, especially with the introduction of computers.

With the twenty-first century, public institutions have moved away from the closed, bureaucratic and top-down traditional management approach and moved to the new public management, where citizens participate in management and service efficiency and speed are increased. With this new management approach, public institutions that want to provide faster service to citizens have begun to integrate digital technologies into their daily operations. The digitalization process, which started with the effective use of computers, has become more effective with the use of developing technologies and mobile technologies. In this context, it will be useful to evaluate the digitalization seen in public institutions in the following five stages.

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  Internet and Social-Media,

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  E Government,

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  Artificial Intelligence,

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  Corporate Communication,

First of all, it can be said that the digitalization process has started with the invent of computer and internet. The Internet has brought all individuals and institutions together and increased the interaction between individuals and institutions. Later, social media platforms developed on the internet; has become the target of private and public organizations that want to reach their customers and citizens while increasing interaction between individuals. Social media platforms have begun to be used effectively for information sharing and intelligence purposes. Increasing technological developments have made possible artificial intelligence applications that can think or make decisions in certain situations. Today, individuals and societies follow artificial intelligence applications closely. In the twentieth century, public institutions have implemented e-government applications in order to share the information they hold with citizens, reduce the bureaucratic structure and provide faster services to citizens. Finally, this digitalization in public institutions has increased communication between institutions and individuals and increase the interagency communication. In the globalizing world and increasing competition environment, communication is one of the most important concepts of today for individuals, societies, and organizations. While individuals use social media platforms mostly for their own needs and information sharing, public and private businesses use social media networks to inform the public about the products and services they offer, to determine users' expectations and satisfaction levels, to manage customer services or to identify areas of investment.

In light of this information, the purpose of this research is to examine the way, method and purposes of digitalization in public institutions in Turkey and the use of e-government and social media tools to reach the citizens. In the first part of the study internet, social media, artificial intelligence, and e-government applications in the context of digitalization in public institutions have been examined. Also in the first part, corporate communication and the ways public institutions communicate with citizens are examined. In the second part of the study, e-government and social media usage rates and methods of Turkish public institutions are discussed. Finally, in the last part of the study, evaluations regarding the future of social media use by public institutions are included.