Public Sector in the Digital Economy Era:A Study on the Public Sector Banking Network in Iran

Digitalization and agility are the dominant features of the gig economy. Therefore, it is crucial to consider digital transformation and organizational agility in both the public and private sectors. The level of preparedness of the public sector for the digital transformation as a new approach to employee management and enhancement of the capabilities of public sector organizations is also of high significance. This relatively new concept includes the use of web-based technologies to optimize processes and create better results in human resource management (HRM). The purpose of the present qualitative research was to present a model for digital HRM in the public sector to fit in the digital era.

Qualitative research method was used to conduct the present study. To achieve the research objective, data was collected through semi-structured interviews with 36 human resource experts in the public banking network (including 8 banks), who were selected using the purposive sampling method.

The findings of this study consisted of 4 comprehensive themes, 15 organizing themes, and 58 basic themes, which were obtained in three stages of coding. The comprehensive themes were digital architecture, digital ecosystem, the drivers of digital HRM, and the digital HRM outcomes.

The obtained results indicated that the public sector requires digital HRM to create agility in the gig economy. As an innovative and inevitable strategy, public sector organizations need digital HRM to improve their agility of the public sector banking network and facilitate the transformation and the transition to the digital economy. Unfortunately, there is currently a major weakness in the knowledge and practice of digital HRM in the public sector. The present study considered this issue and some new concepts that have not been mentioned in the existing literature.