Digital technologies evoke both significant optimism and profound concerns about their potential to transform vital dimensions of Western societies, including democracy, healthcare, working life, and legal systems. One aspiration is that decision-supporting and decision-making algorithms will enhance justice, cost-effectiveness, and efficiency within public administration. However, there are simultaneous concerns that their use may undermine fundamental moral values of the welfare state, exacerbating discrimination, and reducing transparency and trustworthiness. The Danish public sector, recognised for its advanced level of digitalisation, is an apt setting in which to study these moral changes.

For this pilot study, the 'moral paradigm' of the Danish public sector was mapped through philosophical document analysis to establish a basis for comparison. To generate hypotheses regarding moral transformations brought about by digitalisation, for future empirical testing, a meta-synthesis was conducted. This synthesis incorporated analysis of laws, government digitalisation strategies, NGO and government reports, as well as legal, anthropological, sociological, and Science and Technology Studies (STS) research on the application of algorithmic decision-supporting and decision-making systems in Danish public administration.