Ethical Governance of Emerging Digital Technologies in the Public Sector

Emerging digital technologies, such as algorithms and machine learning, offer transformative opportunities to public sector organizations but also pose ethical risks and dilemmas. Public sector organizations adopting these technologies need to govern their ethical implications. This research provides insights into the emerging phenomena of digital ethics commissions within Dutch public sector organizations. Composed of external experts on ethics, technology, and governance, these commissions are meant to reflect, advise, and, in some cases, assess the ethical design and use of emerging digital technology and the governance thereof. Through interviews and document analysis, this research explores the motivations, intentions, and perceptions guiding these commissions. Our preliminary findings suggest that, while digital ethics commissions are meant to convey legitimacy, they can also provide external knowledge, open the organizations for reflection from and with society, and contribute to different types of control. In establishing these commissions, government organizations need to balance the formalization of digital ethics governance with the need for a collaborative and reflective ethical practice conducive to (organizational) learning and ethics as contextual practice. This research contributes empirical insights into how public sector organizations address ethical challenges from emerging digital technologies, offering valuable implications for both practitioners and scholars in the field of public administration.