Transforming social public management in the age of big data: An artificial neural network-based comparative analysis of Eastern nations

The rapid progress of internet technologies, coupled with the concurrent growth of the data landscape, has presented both considerable challenges and opportunities for innovation within public management. This research investigates emerging trends and requirements influencing social public management in the era of big data, examining how the unique attributes of big data are reshaping the entire framework of information collection, processing, decision-making, and service delivery. The study provides recommendations and strategies to advance social public management in China, particularly in light of the complexities of big data. This study investigates how big data transforms social public management in Eastern nations (China, Japan, South Korea) by addressing the problem that traditional governance models cannot capture nonlinear interactions between data utilization and governance challenges. We developed a shallow feed-forward artificial neural network – a form of artificial intelligence – with 2 inputs (Big Data Use, Challenges Addressed) and 3 outputs (Participatory Governance, Digital Government, Predictive Decision-Making), trained on systematically derived composite scores from national digital strategies. The artificial neural network achieved a leave-one-out cross-validated Mean Absolute Error of 2.8%, outperforming linear and polynomial regression baselines. We recommend that Eastern governments optimize both technical data capabilities and governance capacity simultaneously to achieve synergistic improvements in public management outcomes. The artificial neural network achieved a leave-one-out cross-validated Mean Absolute Error of 2.8%, outperforming linear and polynomial regression baselines. We recommend that Eastern governments optimize both technical data capabilities and governance capacity simultaneously to achieve synergistic improvements in public management outcomes.