Collaborative by Design, Fragmented in Delivery: A Scoping Review of National Digital Talent Programmes
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.58905/jse.v7i1.850Keywords:
Digital Talent Policy, Collaborative Governance, Programme Reach, Performance Measurement, Public Workforce DevelopmentAbstract
Governments across income groups now fund national programmes to build digital talent, yet whether they work, and how anyone would know, remains unclear. This scoping review maps how their performance is conceptualised, measured and governed. Following established scoping review guidance, we searched Scopus and screened 265 records against criteria fixed in advance, retaining 25 peer-reviewed reports published between 2018 and 2026. Data were charted using a 67-variable form; 98 governance mechanisms and 105 performance indicators were then coded to evaluation and collaborative governance frameworks and synthesised thematically. Performance is defined explicitly in 14 of 25 reports, measured mainly by self-report (44%), and reported without any time horizon in 60%. One report uses a comparison group and none estimates a counterfactual. Only three measure how much of the intended population was reached, and all three find that most was not. Governance mechanisms are coded as barriers in 33% of design-stage units but 70% of delivery-stage units. No report with an enabling reading attains the highest appraisal rating, so the negative pattern is not an artefact of weak evidence. We propose, as hypotheses requiring empirical validation rather than as a validated extension, that reach, financing structure, post-programme filters and regime status be modelled as variables rather than assumed.
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