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Politics of Disclosure: Organizational Transparency as Multiactor Negotiation
Author(s) -
Heimstädt Maximilian,
Dobusch Leonhard
Publication year - 2017
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.12895
Subject(s) - transparency (behavior) , negotiation , politics , transformative learning , public relations , function (biology) , visibility , political science , sociology , knowledge management , computer science , law , pedagogy , physics , optics , evolutionary biology , biology
Abstract Transparency is in vogue, yet it is often used as an umbrella concept for a wide array of phenomena. More focused concepts are needed to understand the form and function of different phenomena of visibility. In this article, the authors define organizational transparency as systematic disclosure programs that meet the information needs of other actors. Organizational transparency, they argue, is best studied as an interorganizational negotiation process on the field level. To evaluate its merit, the authors apply this framework to a case study on the introduction of open data in the Berlin city administration. Analyzing the politics of disclosure, they consider the similarities and differences between phenomena of visibility (e.g., open data, freedom of information), explore the transformative power of negotiating transparency, and deduce recommendations for managing transparency .