Using Transparency to Enhance Responsiveness and Trust in Local Government

Abstract

Increasingly, local governments view transparency as a means of (re)connecting with a citizenry that, by many accounts, has grown distant. By improving the public’s access to government information, the expectation is that seeds for more responsive and trustworthy local government will be sown. Yet, empirical assessments of the relationship between transparency, responsiveness, and trust in local government have been mixed. Therefore, the intention of this article is to provide an overview of prior research that attempts to conceptually, and empirically, tie transparency to greater responsiveness and trust in local government. Based upon this review of the literature, implications for effective practice are discussed.