The concept of smart public governance (SPG) is gaining attention among researchers, policymakers, and practitioners around the world, especially in response to the modernisation of public administration through emerging technologies in both local (smart city) and national (smart government) levels. Spurred by the noticeable lack of understanding of the SPG concept, the paper aims to comprehensively examine the SPG research by considering the characteristic differences between the smart city and smart government concepts. Bibliometric analysis is based on the Scopus database, containing 775 documents published in the last two decades and facilitated by several established and innovative bibliometric approaches. The results reveal the growth of SPG research over time. Despite the smart city concept being the dominant focus in the SPG research, the smart government concept has been becoming more relevant in recent years, as indicated by some prominent documents published in reputable journals like Government Information Quarterly. Moreover, Anglo-Saxon countries are chiefly engaged in SPG research. However, New Zealand and South Korea are identified as countries with a stronger focus on the smart government concept. The results show the smart city concept is connected with several smart-related initiatives (e.g., smart transportation, smart living, smart energy, etc.), while the smart government concept is primarily associated with smart (de)regulation and smart grid. The findings may add to the understanding of the future development of SPG research, on both local and national levels.

This paper applies a case study approach to test a multi-attribute decision-support model for assessing smart public governance maturity in real-life settings. Developed on prior research, verified through synthetic cases, and validated through expert focus group discussions, the model enables a structured, criteria-based assessment of smart public governance maturity across four dimensions: ICT-enabled innovations for public sector governance, institutional changes, empowered citizens, and outcomes: public value creation. Two public administration organisations in charge of policy making in Slovenia, each operating in a distinct policy sector, were used as case studies for testing the proposed assessment tool. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with policy makers, and responses were aligned with predefined attribute value scales. The findings confirm that the model can be applied in practice as a useful tool for public sector organisations seeking to assess their smart public governance maturity level and identify areas for further improvement.

The paper conceptualizes a multi-attribute model based on the design science approach for measuring smart public governance maturity in public administration institutions. This is achieved on the basis of a systematic literature review (i.e. content analysis) of Web of Science and Scopus records. The SPG attributes or criteria elicited from these two databases are integrated into a decision support model, thus setting the layout of a multi-attribute model for measuring smart public governance maturity in public administration institutions. The final model conceptualized here consists of 29 attributes or criteria grouped into four categories: (ICT)-enabled governance innovation in the public sector, inter-organisational changes, changes in citizen-government interaction, and outcome–public value creation.

Although open government data (OGD) and co-creation are increasingly recognised as important components of smart public governance (SPG), less is known about the organisational capacities relevant to the development of OGD-driven co-creation. This study examines the extent to which Slovenian ministries, as central government organisations responsible for policymaking, possess selected OGD-related and co-creation-related organisational capacities that may represent potential preconditions for OGD-driven co-creation. This study draws on a focused re-analysis of semi-structured interview material collected in eight Slovenian ministries and examines seven capacities: data stewardship and institutional data governance, data-driven policymaking and decision-making, monitoring of data reuse, sensitive-data awareness and responsible openness, stakeholder participation, feedback mechanisms, and co-creation practices. Based on participants’ accounts, data stewardship arrangements and awareness of sensitive-data requirements were reported across all eight ministries, while data-driven policymaking and decision-making and monitoring of data reuse showed greater variation. Stakeholder participation was reported in all eight ministries, although its extent and form varied, while feedback mechanisms were well established across the ministries. At the same time, reported co-creation practices were predominantly at lower or intermediate levels of the co-creation ladder. Participation practices primarily reflected stakeholder input, while feedback mechanisms mainly reflected institutional responsiveness rather than co-creation in themselves. This study provides an empirical assessment of the reported presence and extent of seven selected organisational capacities relevant to OGD-driven co-creation in the participating Slovenian ministries.