Premium
Developing and Testing an Integrative Framework for Open Government Adoption in Local Governments
Author(s) -
Grimmelikhuijsen Stephan G.,
Feeney Mary K.
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
public administration review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.721
H-Index - 139
eISSN - 1540-6210
pISSN - 0033-3352
DOI - 10.1111/puar.12689
Subject(s) - transparency (behavior) , citizen journalism , local government , open government , government (linguistics) , trustworthiness , business , dimension (graph theory) , structural equation modeling , public relations , knowledge management , political science , public administration , psychology , social psychology , computer science , mathematics , linguistics , philosophy , machine learning , pure mathematics , law
Open government is an important innovation to foster trustworthy and inclusive governments. The authors develop and test an integrative theoretical framework drawing from theories on policy diffusion and innovation adoption. Based on this, they investigate how structural, cultural, and environmental variables explain three dimensions of open government: accessibility, transparency, and participation. The framework is tested by combining 2014 survey data and observational data from 500 local U.S. government websites. Organizational structure, including technological and organizational capacity, is a determinant shared by all dimensions of open government. Furthermore, accessibility is affected by a mixture of an innovative and participative culture and external pressures. A flexible and innovative culture positively relates to higher levels of transparency, whereas capacity is a strong predictor of adopting participatory features. The main conclusion is that there is no one‐size‐fits‐all solution to fostering the three dimensions of open government, as each dimension is subject to a unique combination of determinants .