Although not directly measured, there is some evidence of an emerging culture of inclusion and innovation, though internal employee engagement was not explicitly surveyed.

APULIA Region
Small (<5.000 inhabitants), intermediate (5.000-15.000), medium (15.000-50.000), large municipalities (more than 50.000). Small municipalities are not considered due to the low number of respondents.
Results show that the Intangibles domain remains at an intermediate stage of digital maturity across municipalities in the Apulia Region. While most administrations are positioned in the medium maturity band, the presence of low maturity levels is more significant than in Digital Infrastructure, highlighting persistent challenges in developing the human and organizational dimensions of digital transformation.
The domain covers two key areas: Training and Skills Development, including staff training and digital skills assessment frameworks, and Engagement and Innovation Culture, which focuses on employee participation, stakeholder involvement and the promotion of continuous innovation. Overall, municipalities have introduced basic initiatives to support skills development and organizational engagement, resulting in a generally stable medium maturity profile.
The most critical weakness concerns the limited adoption of structured systems to assess, monitor and improve digital competencies. In many municipalities, training activities are not systematically evaluated, reducing their effectiveness and limiting the ability to identify skills gaps, measure progress and support continuous learning. This suggests that capacity-building efforts are often implemented without being fully integrated into broader organizational development strategies.
Differences among municipality sizes are more evident than in other domains. Large municipalities generally perform better, showing a more structured approach to staff development and innovation culture. Medium and intermediate municipalities display greater variability and a higher incidence of low maturity, particularly in relation to skills assessment and monitoring practices.
Overall, the findings indicate that municipalities are investing in people and organizational culture, but stronger governance mechanisms for skills monitoring and continuous improvement are needed to achieve a more mature and sustainable digital transformation.
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MOLISE Region
Small (<1000 inhabitants), medium (1000-2500), larger municipalities (2500-8000). The 4 bigger cities are not considered in the analysis.
At regional level, the domain is characterised by a solid baseline of human digital capacity. Medium municipalities lead with a predominantly medium-to-high profile, small municipalities show medium maturity with greater dispersion, and larger municipalities are mostly concentrated in the medium band, with only a few reaching the high range. This suggests that organisational flexibility and proximity to operational needs may help smaller administrations spread digital practices more effectively than larger ones.
The strongest theme is Digital Culture, which shows the widest spread of positive results and confirms that awareness of digital transformation is now fairly widespread. Training also performs well, indicating active investment in staff development, although often without the depth needed for more advanced tasks. By contrast, Monitoring is the weakest point: many municipalities still lack structured tools to measure skills, track progress, or evaluate the impact of digital initiatives.
Medium municipalities appear to have the most balanced model, combining training and cultural readiness in a coherent way. Small municipalities stand out for stronger culture and training attitudes, but their scores fluctuate more, which points to uneven organisational capacity. Large municipalities are more stable but not necessarily superior in this domain, suggesting that scale does not automatically translate into stronger intangible capabilities.
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Training and Culture highlights a critical, transitional phase in managing public administration human capital. Scoring a moderate but still insufficient level, this domain reflects the "human side" of digital transformation, encompassing skills, monitoring capabilities, and organizational culture.
The findings show that while there is an outstanding willingness to embrace digital tools, the lack of structured and systematic frameworks prevents these intentions from translating into full operational capacity.
This domain is evaluated across three core thematic components showing considerable variation, exposing both a significant driver and a major bottleneck within the system. Culture recorded the highest number of high-maturity responses within the entire domain. Montenegrin IPA institutions demonstrate a highly positive organizational attitude and readiness toward digitalization. Training reaches a medium maturity tier. While this indicates that initial institutional efforts and ad-hoc initiatives for digital skills development are already underway, they remain unevenly distributed and unstructured. The weakest link is in Monitoring. There is an evident lack of formal mechanisms for monitoring, evaluation, and performance-tracking regarding digital transformation and skill progression.
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