The Diffusion of Policy Innovations: Determinants of the Administrative Information Disclosure Acts among Local Governments in Korea

Abstract

What determines the diffusion of policy innovations among localities? In order to answer this question, this study tested empirically competing models of the diffusion of local policy innovations by analyzing the diffusion process of the local information disclosure acts among Korean local governments. In doing so, two existing models-the geographic proximity model and the internal attributes model-and a newly proposed model here-the vertical influence model-are anlyzed. Specifically, employing factors reflecting the presumptions of each model, regression analyses were performed on two dependent variables: the adoption and the adoption speed of local policy innovations. For the adoption, both the internal attributes model and the vertical influence model were supported. But the geographic proximity model was not supported. For the adoption speed, again the two models were supported, but the geographic proximity model failed to find support again, which necessitates a more regorous analysis, as the model has widely gathered supportive evidences. The newly proposed theoretical model was consistently supported in our analyses, which signifies that the diffusion of local innovations is not insulated from the influences of upper authorities.