Continuous improvement through socio-technical mediation: human agency and informal practices in digitalized public organizations

Purpose This study examines how continuous improvement unfolds in a highly digitalized public organization characterized by strong institutional constraints and standardized digital infrastructures. It focuses on how improvement processes develop within contexts shaped by digitalization and accountability requirements. Design/methodology/approach The study adopts a qualitative case study of a highly digitalized central public administration. Drawing on document analysis, digital artifacts and systematic observation of work practices, the analysis follows an interpretive and abductive approach grounded in a bricolage methodology. Findings The findings show that continuous improvement develops through the interaction between digital infrastructures and situated organizational practices. Improvement is embedded in standardized workflows and performance systems and is enacted through informal practices, professional discretion, and situated learning processes. Human agency mediates the relationship between digital systems and operational reality, sustaining improvement within everyday work practices. Practical implications The study suggests that public managers should avoid equating digitalization with improvement. Continuous improvement can be supported by maintaining space for interpretation, recognizing the role of informal learning processes and designing digital systems that enable flexibility and adaptive reflection within procedural environments. Originality/value The paper contributes to research on continuous improvement and digitalization by identifying mediation and relocation processes through which improvement is enacted in highly digitalized public organizations. By examining a least-likely case, it provides empirical and theoretical insight into how improvement is sustained through the interaction between digital infrastructures and human agency.