Abstract
Over the past decades, Morocco’s public sector has actively pursued digital transformation to improve public services by enhancing efficiency and effectiveness. Local governments play a central role in advancing this agenda, particularly in fostering coordination across departments and promoting responsive governance. Despite these efforts, the shift toward digital administration remains complex and challenging, with significant gaps between intended outcomes and actual results. Implementing inclusive and effective digital reforms requires collaboration and alignment across multiple organizations, yet interactions among local authorities often exhibit interorganizational inertia. This form of inertia arises when established routines, processes, and relationships between organizations slow down innovation and the adoption of new practices. Coordination difficulties, resistance to change, and competing priorities contribute to delays in the implementation of digital initiatives. Previous research emphasizes that interorganizational dynamics critically shape the success of public sector reforms, particularly in contexts requiring multi-actor collaboration. Based on qualitative research conducted within the urban planning departments of local authorities in Morocco, the study identifies persistent barriers to effective interagency cooperation. These include reluctance to share information, limited integration of digital tools across organizations, and cautious approaches to cross-departmental projects. Such behaviors hinder the operationalization of digital services and limit the potential for meaningful transformation. The study contributes to scholarship on local governance by highlighting how interorganizational inertia affects the implementation of digital reforms in Moroccan municipalities. It offers practical recommendations for policymakers and public managers to foster collaboration, reduce coordination bottlenecks, and promote effective digital transformation across local administrations.
Presenters
Fatima Ezzahra AzzazPhD, Laboratoire «Gouvernance des Organisations et des Territoires» ENCG – Tanger, Abdelmalek Essaadi University, Morocco
Details
Presentation Type
Theme
KEYWORDS
INTERORGANIZATIONAL, TRANSPARENCY, DIGITAL GOVERNANCE, LOCAL AUTHORITIES, MOROCCO
