Advancing public administration research: integrating digital governance, institutional resilience, and participatory pathways for public value

Abstract

This editorial paper synthesizes recent high-impact scholarship in public administration to articulate a coherent research agenda aligned with the aims and scope of the International Review of Administrative Sciences (IRAS). Drawing on top-tier publications from 2020 to 2025, it systematically structures the field around six interconnected domains: public governance and management; public policy and administrative pro- cesses; institutional analysis and reform; public sector innovation and digital governance; social equity and participatory governance; and crisis governance and administrative resilience. Across these domains, the analysis shows that effective public value creation depends on the interaction between institutional design, administrative and policy cap- acities, participatory mechanisms, and increasingly data-intensive and artificial intelli- gence-enabled digital infrastructures. The editorial paper identifies cross-cutting gaps − including limited longitudinal and comparative evidence beyond Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development contexts, insufficient integration of equity and intersectionality in digital participation research, and weak links between innovation and concrete governance outcomes such as trust and distributive effects − and pro- poses six future research lines on: (a) integrating policy capacity and digital transform- ation; (b) institutional adaptation and resilience in complex environments; (c) equity, participation and digital inclusion; (d) crisis governance, administrative learning and resilience; (e) connecting innovation to measurable public value outcomes; and (f) meth- odological advancements through longitudinal, multilevel, network and configurational designs. In doing so, it positions IRAS as a central venue for theoretically ambitious, methodologically rigorous and normatively grounded research that addresses the inter- twined challenges of digitalization, societal complexity and crises in contemporary public administration.