Abstract

Governments worldwide are digitizing their social welfare policies and services despite the persistence of significant levels of digital exclusion. Although digitization may simplify processes and offer better services at lower costs, it may also marginalize citizens with limited digital access and skills, imposing administrative burdens on them and undermining their privacy. This research in progress attempts to make sense of the flourishing literature on the digital transformation of welfare policies and services and its implications for vulnerable citizens. An integrative literature review was conducted, adopting a critical-interpretive perspective. The literature analyzed thus far showcases the multiple ways in which supposedly neutral technology might deepen the exclusion of vulnerable citizens and points to the need for a research agenda focused on developing contexts and on the experience of vulnerable people.

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