Disruptive Technology Capabilities in Local Public Administration: A comparison between Slovenia and Japan (ARIS-BI-JP-/2025/23)
Head of the research group: prof. dr. Aleksander Aristovnik
Disruptive technologies (e.g. artificial intelligence, blockchain, internet of things, augmented and virtual reality) can diminish the impact of modern global socio-economic challenges through appropriate adoption and use. The digital megatrends are critical priorities on many agendas. It is necessary for public administrations to followdigital development and exploit the potential of disruptive technologies (DT) as they hold many possible benefits through various applications. Japan has stepped up its game against the leading United States and China with a “Society 5.0” plan
and recently with Japan’s AI strategy. Similarly, the vision for AI in Slovenia is to build on more than 40 years of research achievements in AI and to become internationally recognised for the knowledge transfer and top-quality, ethical and safe technologies in the field of AI. The massive amount of information, the speed of updating, and the increasing number of users are some of the elements that determine the emergence of DT. They can bring invaluable benefits and positive changes in key sectors, e.g. mobility and transport, environmental sustainability, health, security, business and energy efficiency, education, etc. Nevertheless, there are many challenges that public administrations must first overcome before being able to deploy DT into operations. Thus, it is not only important that technical challenges are resolved, but also that organisational planning is in place to accommodate disruptive technology-enabled changes. Therefore, DT capabilities are viewed as a concept that should be considered in contemporary public administrations. The concept of DT capabilities is grounded on information technology capabilities, arguing that public organisations need to leverage technology as well as other complementary resources to realise value from new technology deployments.
Previous research looking into aspects that facilitate the adoption and use of DT has concentrated on challenges concerning their technical aspects, providing little insight regarding the organisational deployment of disruptive technologies, particularly in local public administrations in Slovenia and Japan. Therefore, the project aims to examine the factors determining disruptive technology capabilities in Slovenian and Japanese local public administration. The study will be grounded on the Technology-Organization-Environment (TOE) framework, which is suitable for organisational-level analysis. Specifically, the study builds on previous research examining aspects that influence the deployment and use of disruptive technologies in public organisations and puts forward an integrated and extended model to explore their effects. Accordingly, the research project will be developed following three consecutive steps. The first step will consist of (1) an in-depth theoretical literature review of the main examined concepts and contexts, i.e. DT capabilities (including tangible and intangible aspects and human skills) and technological, organisational and environmental
context. The second step (2) will include operationalising the theoretically defined concepts and contexts by academic experts in the economic, legal, and public administration fields. In the last step, (3) the questionnaire will be tested, revised and evaluated by considering practical experiences and recommendations from selected public managers in Slovenian and Japanese local public administration. A representative sample of respondents will be obtained, which will be examined by empirical analysis using selected methodological approaches, e.g. multiple regression analysis, factor analysis, structural equation modelling, etc., allowing to investigate interactions between first-order (e.g., organisational change capacity, skills and technology) and higher-order constructs (e.g., disruptive technology capabilities).
Duration (from/to):
From 1.4.2026 to 31.3.2028
Contracting Authority:
Slovenian Research and Innovation Agency
Project Partner:
Meiji University, Tokyo
Financing:
Memebers of the research group:
dr. Aleksander Aristovnik (head)
Members of the research group in the partner country:
Dr. Masao Kikuchi
Objectives of bilateral cooperation activities
The project aims to help strengthen the knowledge of policymakers in Slovenia and Japan. In addition, the project includes important elements of scalability, as the results will provide a framework for further empirical studies that are transferable to an international context. The added value of cooperation between researchers from Slovenia and Japan lies in the exchange of specific knowledge and experience. The main objectives of the collaboration are: 1) to combine the theoretical and empirical perspectives of the research topic presented; 2) to establish a basis for future collaboration on research projects; and 3) to strengthen/involve collaboration between young and experienced researchers. All researchers involved in this project are experts in their fields. The proposed research will contribute to the general literature in a systematic and comprehensive manner with new theoretical and empirical evidence. The empirical analysis will be embedded in an in-depth theoretical and methodological background. The results of this research will contribute to academic and practical knowledge and will assist researchers and practitioners in this field in their research in theory and practice. Complementarity will be achieved by combining theoretical and empirical questions. In addition, the project is a good opportunity to involve young researchers in an international project, as the partners will involve selected young doctoral students or postdoctoral researchers in the project work. Students from both institutions will also benefit, as both project leaders plan to present the main results of the research during their guest lectures at partner institutions. Joint contributions to selected international conferences are also planned. The results of the collaboration should also be visible in the form of scientific articles published in some highly indexed (ISI) journals.