The high technology of services represents the primary source of innovation in the economy and society. The principles of transparency and simplification that increasingly characterize administrative action today materialize through telematic channels and tools. This explains the massive trend toward digitization of all administrative tasks, including the workflow of the judicial system. Indeed, a modern administration needs to use information and communication technologies. The digital transition allows, on the one hand, the speeding up of procedures by operators and in relations with citizens; on the other, it is an indispensable prerequisite of the criterion of transparency, connected to the profiles of legality and anti-corruption, which are instrumental to the pursuit of efficiency of public organizations. Among the primary purposes that the public administration seeks to achieve, therefore, also includes the adoption of technological and information models such as to be able to guarantee e-government services to the community by implementing new technologies and reducing costs and times for providing services to the communities.
Public organizations therefore face the challenge of digitization; among these, judicial systems are also going through a phase of digital transition which often clashes with personnel’s resistance to change, and the technical difficulties encountered in daily operations carried out through digital tools. In an era defined by rapid technological advancements, our judicial systems are facing unprecedented challenges and opportunities. The successful integration of digital tools and innovative practices is not just an option; it is a necessity to ensure efficient and effective administration of justice. Although the justice system has crucial importance in guaranteeing the economic growth of a country – as made clear by the Institutional Analysis literature, which has supported with robust empirical evidence the importance of efficient courts in ensuring the effectiveness of a legal framework oriented to enhance economic activities – compared to other sustainable development goals, it is quite overlooked by organization studies. The debate on how judiciaries’ issues can be interpreted and addressed in the light of organizational theories and on the critical role that knowledge management plays in driving the digital transformation and innovation within judicial system is minimal, despite the growing calls to engage due to the enormous relevance of the judiciaries’ performances impact on society and the economy.
This track is addressed to scholars who aim to delve deeper into the knowledge management systems developed both at a central (governmental and ministerial) level and at a local level (single Court or Courts’ networks) to address the disruptive phenomena of innovation and digital transition within these organizations, whose performance – in terms of efficiency, quality, predictability of outcomes and uniformity of the service provided to the community on the national territory – has a decisive impact on the reputation of a country and then on its attractiveness for foreign investments, as well as the critical issues that may compromise judicial institutions’ effectiveness.

Francesca Ricciardi, University of Turin, Italy
Arianna Ciabattoni, University of Turin, Italy