Is digital transformation a catalyst of knowledge assets for public value creation?

Purpose This study investigates how digital transformation (DT) acts as a catalyst for mobilizing knowledge assets (KAs) to create public value (PV) in digital government. It addresses a gap in existing literature by integrating digital government and knowledge management perspectives to understand the conditions under which DT activates KAs for PV creation. Design/methodology/approach The research adopts a two-phase deductive–inductive qualitative methodology. It combines a narrative literature review with an explanatory case study of “Developers Italia,” an open-source digital government platform. The dynamic performance management framework is used as an analytical lens to explore causal relationships among DT, KAs and PV across user, context and service system levels. Findings Study findings reveal that DT is a catalyst of KAs for PV creation, provided certain conditions are met: (1) hands-on assistance, service design and cybersecurity make support capacity a key for delivering PV to the users; (2) developing orchestrating capabilities balances the institutional, managerial and technological dimensions of interoperability leading to PV generation for the context; and (3) relational knowledge resources, such as leadership and collaboration, complement agile DT, enhancing PV creation at the service system level. Research limitations/implications Limitations of this work concern the testing of our conceptual framework to a single case study, depicting a peculiar stream of DT initiatives, i.e. open-source software development. Practical implications Implications suggest policymakers consider support capacity, orchestration capabilities and agile DT as enabling conditions for PV creation, when approaching DT strategies. The use of DPM as an analytical lens delivers methodological implications for KAs management, including the operationalization of the conceptual constructs underlying performance drivers into measurable facts or events, signaling PV creation/disruption, providing managers with guidance to identify effective leverage points. Social implications DT reshapes public administration beyond technological advancements. Investing in digital tools and training for civil servants improves digital skills and addresses low user literacy, ensuring inclusivity and accessibility. Service design principles should guide administrative process redesign to reduce redundancies, enhance user experience and improve trust. Local administrations can leverage open source platforms for tailored digital solutions without facing the financial, organizational or technological burdens of building from scratch. Originality/value This research bridges digital government and knowledge management literature from a PV perspective. It introduces a knowledge-centered DT framework and empirically demonstrates how DT mobilizes KAs to generate PV, offering novel insights into the conditions enabling knowledge-based value creation in public administration DT.