Understanding Automated Decision-Making in the Public Sector: A Classification of Automated, Administrative Decision-Making

Service automation in the public sector is applied to a range of different activities that include policy development, administrative decision-making and public service delivery. This chapter focusses on the use of automated, administrative decision-making and conceptualises a classification of six ideal types ranging from Minimal automation to Autonomous decisions. Each type describes a configuration of decision authority between civil servants and algorithmic systems which illustrates how the use of advanced technology does not exist independent of its users and contextual factors. The classification allows new empirical sensitivities to be applied to applications of automated administrative decision-making that go beyond basic differentiations of semi- and fully automated decisions. It emphasises the need to understand empirical instances of automated decisions-making usage as ambiguous and often consisting of several ideal types of use. The chapter provides a basis for the understanding of consequences of automated administrative decision-making in the public sector. The classification furthermore supports informed choices among practitioners of appropriate IT-system design and test as well as choices of appropriate professional and management practices in relation to automated administrative decision-making.