Smart working and digitalization of public administration. A transdisciplinary case study

This article analyses the relationship between digital transformation and remote work (lavoro agile) in the Italian Public Administration through a case study conducted within a large public organisation over the period from the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic to 2025. Starting from the identification of a gap in the existing literature, which has largely focused on theoretical or exegetical analyses of the phenomenon, the contribution adopts a socio-legal and transdisciplinary perspective aimed at observing labour law in its concrete dynamics of operation. The study is based on a multi-method research design integrating qualitative analysis (semi-structured interviews with senior managers and focus groups with HR function managers), documentary analysis (administrative acts, collective agreements and individual remote work agreements), and a reconstruction of the relevant legal framework. The findings show that remote work, although formally in place prior to the pandemic and largely unused in the previous phase, played a central role in accelerating digitalisation processes, acting as a driving factor of organisational transformation and consolidating itself as an ordinary mode of work performance. In contrast with the multifunctional role attributed to the institution by the legislator—also oriented towards improving public services, fostering organisational innovation and promoting management-by-objectives models—the analysis highlights how, in practice, remote work has been predominantly functionalised to objectives related to individual well-being and work–life balance. This outcome appears to be closely linked to the limited diffusion of a managerial culture consistent with the management by objectives approach referred to in statutory and collective bargaining sources. The article interprets these dynamics through the lens of path dependency, qualifying the pandemic period as a critical juncture capable of producing lock-in effects potentially replicable in other public administrations. From this perspective, the case study offers insights for a critical reflection on the future configuration of remote work in the Public Administration and on the conditions—particularly in terms of training and organisational development—necessary for the institution to fully express its transformative function in line with the objectives pursued by the legal system.