What Drives Online Transparency Practices at the Local Level? Evidence
                        from 2222 Municipalities in Switzerland

Vincent Mabillard,Nicolas Keuffer

doi:10.5334/ssas.143

What Drives Online Transparency Practices at the Local Level? Evidence from 2222 Municipalities in Switzerland

Vincent Mabillard, Nicolas Keuffer

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.5334/ssas.143

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Abstract

Regarded as a core principle of good governance, transparent government communication has been discussed at the national level in particular. This article aims to extend this reflection by assessing the transparency practices of all Swiss municipalities in 2018, using an index of the volume of information published online (LTI). The results show that the practices of municipalities are very heterogeneous and that the population size and financial capacity of municipalities have a significant impact on the amount of information disseminated on their official websites. Résumé En tant que principe fondamental de bonne gouvernance, la communication de l’État a été examinée principalement au niveau national. Cet article vise à étendre cette réflexion en évaluant les pratiques de transparence de toutes les municipalités suisses en 2018, à l›aide d›un indice déterminant le niveau d’informations publié en ligne (LTI). Les résultats montrent que les pratiques des municipalités sont très hétérogènes et que la taille de la population et la capacité financière des municipalités ont un impact significatif sur la quantité d›informations diffusées sur leurs sites web. Abstrakt Als Kernprinzip guter Regierungsführung wurde die Kommunikation des Staates vor allem auf nationaler Ebene untersucht. Dieser Artikel will diese Überlegungen erweitern, indem er, anhand eines Index den Grad ihrer Offenlegung online (LTI), die Transparenzpraktiken aller Schweizer Gemeinden im Jahr 2018 evaluiert. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass die Praktiken zwischen den Gemeinden sehr heterogen sind und dass die Bevölkerungszahl und die finanzielle Kapazität der Gemeinden einen erheblichen Einfluss auf den Umfang der auf ihren Websites verbreiteten Informationen haben. Mots-clés: Transparence en ligne; gouvernement local; mise à disposition d’information; État digital; Suisse Stichwörter: Online-Transparenz; Kommunalverwaltung; Offenlegung von Informationen; Digitaler Staat; Schweiz

Highlights

Depicted by Heald (2012: 31) as a “public virtue, which it is discreditable or inadvisable to oppose,” transparency is still considered as an essential pillar of good governance
Praised for its power to reveal hidden secrets, corrupt practices or dysfunction, it is growingly used by public organizations as a guideline in their operations. It is frequently promoted for its supposed beneficial effects on the efficiency of administrations, citizen trust and participation, and accountability from public bodies towards the public at large (Esty 2006). These factors have led to the global development of transparency, especially through the explosion of Freedom of Information (FOI) laws, which allow citizens to request official information from public bodies
Increased transparency is usually regarded as a way to rebalance the relationship between the governed and those who govern. This relationship matters at the local level, where people generally show more interest in policies that have an impact on their lives: interactions tend to be more frequent, since services delivered at the local level directly affect citizens

Summary

Introduction

Depicted by Heald (2012: 31) as a “public virtue, which it is discreditable or inadvisable to oppose,” transparency is still considered as an essential pillar of good governance. Praised for its power to reveal hidden secrets, corrupt practices or dysfunction, it is growingly used by public organizations as a guideline in their operations. It is frequently promoted for its supposed beneficial effects on the efficiency of administrations, citizen trust and participation, and accountability from public bodies towards the public at large (Esty 2006). These factors have led to the global development of transparency, especially through the explosion of Freedom of Information (FOI) laws, which allow citizens to request official information from public bodies. The responsiveness of public authorities and the quality of interactions between them and citizens depend on transparency practices (Welch et al 2005)

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Results

Conclusion