A Literature Overview on Data-Driven Value and Accountability: Connecting the Private and Public Dimensions

Abstract

Despite a general awareness of the potential of big data in terms of public interest, several obstacles prevent their effective sharing. This study, linking the discourse on data to the concepts of data value and accountability, aims at emancipating the scientific debate from the emphasis on administrative transparency and the protection of privacy, tracing new perspectives for future research. The present research examines the main peer-reviewed articles published by journals that have dealt with data value and accountability across the public and private dimensions. The bibliometric analysis carried out indicates a propensity by current literature to consider the issue of data value creation either only in the private (data as input to improve business performance or customer relations) or in the public dimension (open data government models). This means that research on behavioral data for public governance has so far been underestimated. Evidence shows that big data value creation is closely associated with a collective process where multiple levels of interaction and data sharing develop among private and public actors in a multilayered accountability environment.