Digitizing criminal justice: A Qualitative Comparative Analysis of supply-chain integration across four EU Member States

Drawing on Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) techniques, we formally analyse four cases of supply-chain integration within the European Union (EU). Our findings demonstrate the causal asymmetry between successful and unsuccessful digitization of inter-organizational information flows. While unsuccessful digitization requires poor project management skills, successful digitization is much more demanding because it also requires compatible technologies which are implemented either by means of a small-scale, bottom-up approach to standardization or a single, centralised architecture developed in a top-down fashion. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed by highlighting the key role of coordination by feedback in a context of increasing digitization of criminal justice systems.