Open Government Data Initiatives Research Articles

From Barriers to Boosters: Optimizing Open Government Data through Publishing Guidelines and Data Protection Strategies

Open Government Data (OGD) is a global endeavor, a collaborative effort between governments worldwide to share datasets that encapsulate a wide spectrum of government activities, from environmental issues like pollution and climate to social aspects like education and childcare, and urban concerns like traffic and congestion, and healthcare statistics. As governments, being among the largest producers and collectors of data, are making OGD available online in diverse formats, primarily Word, PDF, or Excel, they are contributing significantly to this global initiative. The OGD initiative holds immense potential to revolutionize the way we access and use government data. Its primary objective is to enhance the discoverability, accessibility, and availability of data in alternative and preferably machine-readable formats. This, in turn, empowers a diverse set of stakeholders to develop innovative data applications under licensing schemes that permit unrestricted reuse. Despite these promising aspects, challenges such as data heterogeneity, data protection, data quality, and data provenance issues persist. This study aims to analyze and categorize these challenges and obstacles that hinder the OGD initiative from realizing its full potential, with a particular emphasis on data protection and security concerns for data providers.

Integration of quantum physics theories to understand open government data (OGD) adoption by the government

Purpose This paper aims to further the understanding of Open Government Data (OGD) adoption by the government by invoking two quantum physics theories – percolation theory and expander graph theory. Design/methodology/approach Extant research on the barriers to adoption and rollout of OGD is reviewed to drive home the research question for the present study. Both the theories are summarized, and lessons are derived therefrom for answering the research question. Findings The percolation theory solves the riddle of why the OGD initiatives find it difficult to seep across the hierarchical and geographical levels of any administrative division. The expander graph theory builds the understanding of the need for having networking among and within the key government personnel for bolstering the motivation and capacity building of the operational personnel linked with the OGD initiative. The theoretical understanding also aids in the implementation and institutionalization of OGD in general. Originality/value Intersectionality of domains for conducting research on any theme is always a need. Given the fact that there are innumerable challenges regarding the adoption of OGD by the governments across the world, the application of the two theories of quantum physics might solve the quandary in a befitting way.

Challenges and Opportunities in Implementing Open Government Data Initiatives in East Africa

Open Government Data (OGD) initiatives in East Africa represent a transformative approach to governance, aiming to promote transparency, accountability, citizen engagement, innovation, and economic development.These initiatives seek to make government data openly accessible to the public, empowering citizens to scrutinize government actions, monitor public spending, and participate in decision-making processes. However, the implementation of OGD initiatives faces several challenges, including infrastructure limitations, data quality and availability issues, data privacy and security concerns, and the lack of clear legal and policy frameworks. Addressing these challenges requires significant investments in technological infrastructure, data management practices, capacity building, and policy reform. Despite the challenges, OGD initiatives present numerous opportunities for driving positive change and fostering socio-economic development in East Africa. By promoting transparency, accountability, and citizen participation, OGD initiatives lay the foundation for a more inclusive, responsive, and prosperous society. Keywords: Open Government Data (OGD), East Africa, Challenges, Opportunities, Governance

Value co‐creation (VCC) and value co‐destruction (VCD) via open government data (OGD): Empirical case of Tanzania

AbstractHaving emphasized upon the potential benefits of Open Government Data (OGD) initiatives via value derivation and innovation pursuits of the stakeholders, it falls in place to complement this line of OGD research in the specific case of Tanzania, a developing country, to support the inferences. Specifically, it is important to understand the manner in which OGD VCC‐one of the hinges of OGD initiatives‐ and OGD VCD‐a possible fall out of OGD initiatives‐happens to pass. Thus, a content analysis of the interviews of 15 public officials and managers associated directly with the management and operationationalization of OGD initiatives is being done to arrive at the conclusions. Thus, the interviewees aver that OGD Value Co‐creation (VCC) may be facilitated on top‐priority bases by consistent marketing efforts by the government as also the partnerships with the key stakeholders of the OGD ecosystem, and, among the prominent Value Co‐Destruction (VCD) factors may be counted the issues linked with data privacy and resource restriction. Literature on OGD VCC is at a nascent stage and the one on OGD VCD is evolving. As an atypical empirical validation case vis‐a‐vis the emerging OGD VCC‐VCD research, the study is an additional contribution to the extant literature with specific reference to the developing country's experiences.

Dados abertos governamentais: Modelo de diagnóstico de maturidade voltado a qualidade de dados para publicação na web

Abstract Increased interest in open government data initiatives stems from long debates about state modernization. This study investigates the challenges imposed on public administration regarding data publishing from an open data perspective to propose a maturity diagnosis model for open data portals, aiming at the provision of in-depth, consistent, efficient, and transparent government information. The research comprised three phases. Firstly, we conducted a pre-test on open data portals from the United States, the United Kingdom, Brazil and Ireland, motivated by studies on the history of the open data movement as well as the current panorama of initiatives, evolution stages and challenges, which defined the fundamental analytical dimensions for the proposed maturity model. Secondly, we developed a maturity diagnosis model for open government data portals. Finally, the model was applied and validated on the pre-tested portals. Results from the diagnosis instrument can guide public administration in realizing a more efficient and responsible data governance, benefiting the government, the open data movement and civil society.

Identification of Public Service Logic (PSL) and Public Service Motivation (PSM) elements in Open Government Data (OGD) initiatives

AbstractWhile previous research on Open Government Data (OGD) has primarily focused on reuse and adoption, this study aims to explore the implications of the Public Service Logic (PSL) and Public Service Motivation (PSM) dimensions in the context of OGD initiatives. This study is contextualized in Tanzania wherein the OGD initiatives are at an evolving stage. For the present study, the perspectives of the 15 public officials involved in the management of the OGD initiatives are being solicited. Findings underscore the need for furthering the marketing and refurbishing the OGD initiatives' quality alongside the increased involvement of the stakeholders to engage in value co‐creation. Furthermore, as a study contextualized in a developing country to understand the involvement of the public personnel in the refurbishment of the OGD initiatives, the study contributes to the extant OGD literature while identifying the OGD publisher‐side challenges and strengths in a still‐evolving OGD initiative. Finally, with its societal implications in terms of the impact on societal stakeholders' engagement with OGD given the PSL‐PSM of the public officials, the study's relevance is also clinched.

Identifying patterns and recommendations of and for sustainable open data initiatives: A benchmarking-driven analysis of open government data initiatives among European countries

Open government and open (government) data are seen as tools to create new opportunities, eliminate or at least reduce information inequalities and improve public services. More than a decade of these efforts has provided much experience, practices, and perspectives to learn how to better deal with them. This paper focuses on benchmarking of open data initiatives over the years and attempts to identify patterns observed among European countries that could lead to disparities in the development, growth, and sustainability of open data ecosystems. To do this, we studied benchmarks and indices published over the last years (57 editions of 8 artifacts) and conducted a comparative case study of eight European countries, identifying patterns among them considering different potentially relevant contexts such as e-government, open government data, open data indices and rankings, and others relevant for the country under consideration. Using a Delphi method, we reached a consensus within a panel of experts and validated a final list of 94 patterns, including their frequency of occurrence among studied countries and their effects on the respective countries. Finally, we took a closer look at the developments in identified contexts over the years and defined 21 recommendations for more resilient and sustainable open government data initiatives and ecosystems and future steps in this area.

Do personality traits influence the user’s behavioral intention to adopt and use Open Government Data (OGD)? An empirical investigation

The academic interest in the Open Government Data (OGD) domain has been burgeoning over the years. Conceding that the prime focus of an OGD initiative is its further re-use for value creation and innovation by stakeholders, the present study seeks to underscore the role of HEXACO personality traits on behavioral intention (BI) to adopt and use OGD in developing countries' context. We investigate the direct, indirect, and moderating effects of HEXACO personality traits provide a better understanding of how and to what extent personality traits influence future behavioral intention to use OGD. The results demonstrate that Trust and Performance Expectancy are positive predictors of BI to adopt and use OGD. Users with higher Openness to Experience tend to have higher Effort and Performance Expectancy; are characterized by exposure to Social Influence; have higher level of Trust and positive experience of Facilitating Conditions and Information Quality. Agreeable people are more likely to Voluntarily Use OGD. Conscientiousness enhances the individual's perception of OGD quality-related factors. Excessive Emotionality affects negative perception to System and Information Quality issues. Honesty–Humility and Extraversion are able to maintain the effect of OGD Information Quality and Trust on users' BI. Our findings could be useful for practitioners to level the divergence between actual and potential use of OGD by considering the user's personality traits..

How to promote the participation of enterprises using open government data? Evolutionary game analysis by applying dynamic measures

As the development of smart cities, driven by emerging technologies, enters a new phase, the focus shifts towards sustaining operations rather than building new infrastructures. In the era of big data, one crucial factor for the sustainability of smart cities is the innovation and economic value generated through open government data (OGD). Local governments often adopt incentive policies to encourage participation, recognizing that most emerging technologies are driven by innovation and promotion from enterprises. This raises a fundamental question: how do the strategies of local governments and enterprises interact in the context of open government data development? In this study, we have developed an approach based on evolutionary game theory to examine the interactions of OGD participants, such as local governments and enterprises, in shaping their long-term decisions. Specifically, we have explored the effectiveness and efficiency of combinations involving hybrid subsidies and data access fees by simulating Evolutionarily Stable Strategies (ESS) based on empirical cases from enterprises. Our findings indicate that dual dynamic measures are more effective and efficient in encouraging stakeholder participation in open government data initiatives over the long term. The results underscore the preference for flexible policies over rigid ones and highlight the critical role of positive interactions between enterprises and local governments in fostering the sustainable operation of OGD.

Is it real or illusory? An empirical examination of the impact of open government data on innovation capability in the case of China

The values and effects of open government data (OGD) initiative are a hot issue in academic research and practical exploration, which is of great significance to promote the continuous implementation and development of OGD. Previous studies have discussed the various categories of potential values and impacts of OGD, however, the empirical evidence is limited. Hence, this study focuses on the innovation effect of OGD initiatives and employs the quasi-nature experiment method to explore and verify the causal relationship between the implementation of OGD and the innovation capability of cities in China. This research constructs panel data of cities in China from the years 2012–2020, and adopts the multi-period difference-in- difference analysis method to conduct empirical study. The results prove that the implementation of OGD initiatives has positive impact on innovation capability, and the parallel trend test and robustness test results also support this conclusion. In addition, this study also concludes that the impact of OGD initiatives on innovation capability is dynamic and continuous. Finally, the heterogeneity analysis results indicate that the effect of OGD initiatives on innovation capability varies among cities in different geographical locations and administrative levels. This manuscript enriches studies on the values and impacts of OGD initiatives and also provides references for OGD implementation.

Why do Open Government Data initiatives fail in developing countries? A root cause analysis of the most prevalent barriers and problems

AbstractOpen government data (OGD) include the provision of government data, which have so far been reserved for the provision of public utilities and services, wherein different stakeholders may create value out of the same source. Recently, OGD initiatives around the world have dampened or were found to be inadequate for one or other reasons. The present study seeks to underline the root causes behind these inadequate or stalled initiatives with a specific focus on the developing countries. This article undertakes a literature review of the most significant studies in this area, followed by a root cause analysis wherein the database across Scopus and Web of Science has been explored with the set inclusion and exclusion criteria being set in line with the research focusing on the hinderances and bottlenecks behind the failure of OGD initiatives (n ~ 15), thus not only summarizing what has been revealed in previous studies but also identifying these “root‐cause” relationships, which are responsible for the stalled OGD projects. A deep understanding of the literature on OGD shows that research of OGD barriers repeat each other. The results show that the main root causes include politico‐administrative, social, technological, legal and organizational (inter‐ and intra) dimensions including aspects like state of the economy, infrastructural issues, the tendency to copy the OGD initiative without need to institutionalize the same, and so forth. Whereas a number of studies are available covering the barriers in the roll‐out and implementation of OGD initiatives, the root causes behind the existence of these barriers have not been identified so far‐the present study seeks to plug this gap. Besides being a contribution to the extant OGD literature in general, the study seeks to leave academic and practical implications for furthering up deliberations and discussions on the OGD themes with specific impetus upon the cause analysis of the failure in OGD initiatives and the manner in which the same may be corrected or preempted.

Transitioning to Smart Cities in Gulf Cooperation Council Countries: The Role of Leadership and Organisational Culture

The concept of Society 5.0, first introduced by Japan in 2016, has become a widely accepted model for the development of social infrastructures across the world. It is a model which is expected to take root globally over the next few years. It is also a model which has smart cities, which are connected and inclusive, at its core. The role of open data is critical to smart cities, and the ability to design and implement strategies for its use is a crucial element in their growth and success. This requires a leadership and organisational culture that embraces the concept of open government data (OGD) and understands its key role in the development of smart cities. In this paper, we examine how the leadership and organisational culture in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Countries has impacted the progress of OGD initiatives and, therefore, the transition to smart cities. This is approached via a re-analysis of data from an earlier study in which semi-structured interviews were used to understand the views and attitudes of a range of senior government department personnel in OGD-related roles, where here a new thematic analysis seeks to identify clearer pointers to attitudes and practices directly relating to smart cities and Society 5.0. The focus on internal factors, such as leadership attitudes and organisational culture, as opposed to external factors, such as technology and resources, differentiates this research from previous studies and adds to our current knowledge. The findings lead to a discussion that identifies a likely gap in the leadership provided by more senior figures. A pilot study of a group of these leaders suggests a generalised problem with communication of policy, objectives and strategies, which is crucial to overcoming cultural impediments to smart city development. While further research is required, a need clearly emerges for significant changes in attitude and application at senior managerial and leadership levels if strategic goals are to be achieved. The paper also makes a number of specific recommendations for activities that could improve progress and indicate areas where more research would be beneficial.

Assessing the failure of Open Government Data initiatives in Brazil

AbstractWhile assessing the potential of a particular digital innovation initiative, especially when it has implications for a range of societal stakeholders, it becomes pertinent to understand the possible bottlenecks in its acceptability as well. In this regard, the present study seeks to understand how the Open Government Data (OGD) initiatives in Brazil are being confronted with bottlenecks in terms of their execution and acceptability. This exploratory study adopts a qualitative cross‐sectional research approach wherein interviews are being conducted with 11 managers working in public organizations and are directly associated with the OGD initiatives. Findings from the interview responses delineate internal and external factors, resource availability, data maintenance, and lack of knowledge as the key determinants for the bottlenecks associated with the execution and acceptability of OGD initiatives by the societal stakeholders. The study's originality lies in its theoretical contribution towards an understanding of how a novel digital innovation‐OGD, in the present case‐ is fraught with impediments in terms of its execution and acceptability. The study concludes with directions for further research and practitioner implications.

Seeing data like a state: A case of Open Government Data in India’s livelihoods program

Open Government Data (OGD) initiatives promise to make governments transparent, enabling citizens to participate actively in governance. Yet, empirical evidence suggests that OGD doesn’t have the democratic impact that its advocates expect. Based on a 14-month ethnography of India’s livelihood program, we argue that the assumptions underlying the design of OGD initiatives vary with citizens’ social context. We show how OGD initiatives are state-centric in their design to make the functioning of the everyday state legible towards controlling corruption. However, citizens and social activists do not always share such an “anti-corruption” view in their engagement with the everyday state. Instead, they prioritise “getting things done”, i.e. accessing the state’s services. The state-centric OGD is of limited value to them due to its techno-official language and its emphasis on aggregate datasets. We suggest complementing state-centric OGD with citizen-centric OGD to enable the citizens to “see the state”.

Increasing Continuous Engagement With Open Government Data

A number of countries are today implementing open government data (OGD) initiatives. Yet many of these initiatives are failing to attract the levels of continuous use they need to deliver an acceptable return on investment. This raises the obvious question of why this should be the case. To answer this question, it is important to understand the factors that most strongly influence user behaviour in OGD adoption. Qualitative data were used to identify the factors that play a key role in influencing the intention to engage with ODG. A quantitative approach was then used to evaluate the extent to which these factors drive/limit behaviour. The study's findings showed that there are four factors that play a significant role in intention to use OGD. It is also believed that the findings will be useful in helping policymakers in all jurisdictions formulate and implement strategies that successfully drive up continuous OGD engagement.

Usability and Accessibility of Open Government Data Portals of Countries Worldwide

The open government data (OGD) portal is an initiative by governments worldwide to promote transparency and accountability and enhance citizen participation and public value creation. The ability of these portals to deliver the expected benefits depends on their usability and accessibility, besides their content. This study conducts an integrated assessment and comparison of the OGD portals of 75 countries based on their usability and accessibility. The usability of the portals is measured through several technical indicators, classified into performance metrics, browser timings, and optimisation using automated diagnostic tools. Accessibility is evaluated through portals' conformance to web content accessibility guidelines (WCAG). The ‘technique for order of preference by similarity to ideal solution' (TOPSIS) and entropy weight method are used to rank the portals. The findings of this study could be helpful for policymakers and internal stakeholders of OGD initiatives to identify the focus area and make decisions on resource allocation.

Empirical analysis of open government data usage in Tanzania

PurposeDespite the potential benefits of open government data (OGD) and its recent adoption by many governments, little is known about monitoring its use by the public. This paper aims to address the knowledge gap by empirically examining OGD usage in Tanzania.Design/methodology/approachA field survey design was used to gather quantitative data from 288 people in seven regions of Tanzania to facilitate an analysis of the determinants of users’ behavioural intention and use behaviour of OGD. Guided by the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology model, the study analysed the tendencies of these determinants on the use of the OGD portal.FindingsThe results show that performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence and facilitating conditions affect users’ acceptance and use of the OGD portal. The results suggest that OGD initiatives should focus more on their potential applications than publication. It is important to monitor and evaluate OGD use and the conditions that allow it to continue. By linking OGD with other government initiatives, governments can build strategies, capacity and social awareness. During the development of OGD platforms for extensive reuse, new data technologies like the semantic web should be considered.Originality/valueHitherto, research has underlined the significance of OGD initiatives at large and that studies in developing countries are scarce, especially that probe the uptake of the current efforts. The present study seeks to plug this research gap by examining the use of OGD in Tanzania’s context.

Whither the need and motivation for open government data (OGD) promotional strategies?

PurposeIt has been underscored in the extant literature that open government data (OGD) has not percolated across the length and breadth of any country, let alone the awareness of the OGD among the stakeholders themselves. In this vein, this study aims to underline the reasons as to why OGD promotion merits consideration apart from underlining the manner in which OGD promotion may be done.Design/methodology/approachBased on literature review on the OGD conceptual models and government promotion initiatives, the study further sketches an OGD model across four quadrants: beginners, followers, fast-trackers, trend-setters on the basis of the progress made in their OGD initiatives besides underlining the four elements of OGD promotional strategy as media, arena, substance and stakeholders. Also, the study explores the drivers and barriers to OGD promotional initiatives.FindingsThe study shows that across the OGD quadrants, the promotional strategies vary in terms of the 4As (acceptability, affordability, accessibility and awareness), and the same get reflected across MASS. Further, the drivers for OGD promotional initiatives are building citizens’ trust and forging stakeholder participation and collaboration in administration, thereby furthering transparency in administration, meeting the needs of the stakeholders, providing the desired impetus to value creation and innovation by the stakeholders and the need for furthering economic growth. Likewise, the barriers toward OGD promotion are linked with the lack of political will, lack of organizational leadership, mission and vision, lack of involvement of government departments, lack of budget and lack of requisite infrastructure for promotion.Originality/valueHitherto, OGD research has underscored the need to make the users aware of the potential of OGD initiative; however, no study has been undertaken to understand the manner in which the awareness may be driven among the users – the present study is a first step in this direction.

Pinpointing Factors in the Success of Integrated Information System Toward Open Government Data Initiative: A Perspective from Employees

As the Supervisory Institution in Statistics, Badan Pusat Statistik (BPS) launched an integrated information system (IS) to exercise the Open Government Data (OGD) initiative and to impose the One Data Policy Act. Albeit challenges arise, BPS manages to provide more than 120 thousand publicly accessible datasets. With the success of OGD, many scholars have opted to examine a similar issue from the perspective of users/citizens. However, employees’ perspective remains substantial as employees are the OGD provider. This research administers employees’ views to pinpoint influencing factors in the success of OGD adoption through an IS. The authors seek to comprehend the factors from IS and acceptance manner, thus integrating the Information System Success Model (ISSM) and Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) as the measurement model. This study also administers a cross-sectional questionnaire with close-ended questions to obtain data from 253 IS users in BPS. Using structural equation modelling (SEM), the authors find that all ISSM constructs influence the success of IS while only one construct from UTAUT plays a pivotal role in defining the success. Information Quality, System Quality, Service Quality, User Satisfaction, and System Use remain paramount to the successful implementation, while Performance Expectancy becomes the sole influencing UTAUT factor affecting success. This study therefore offers substantial benefits by aiding other researchers in OGD-related areas and providing in-depth evidence for practitioners in implementing IS for OGD initiatives.

Factors influencing open government data post-adoption in the public sector: The perspective of data providers.

Providing access to non-confidential government data to the public is one of the initiatives adopted by many governments today to embrace government transparency practices. The initiative of publishing non-confidential government data for the public to use and re-use without restrictions is known as Open Government Data (OGD). Nevertheless, after several years after its inception, the direction of OGD implementation remains uncertain. The extant literature on OGD adoption concentrates primarily on identifying factors influencing adoption decisions. Yet, studies on the underlying factors influencing OGD after the adoption phase are scarce. Based on these issues, this study investigated the post-adoption of OGD in the public sector, particularly the data provider agencies. The OGD post-adoption framework is crafted by anchoring the Technology-Organization-Environment (TOE) framework and the innovation adoption process theory. The data was collected from 266 government agencies in the Malaysian public sector. This study employed the partial least square-structural equation modeling as the statistical technique for factor analysis. The results indicate that two factors from the organizational context (top management support, organizational culture) and two from the technological context (complexity, relative advantage) have a significant contribution to the post-adoption of OGD in the public sector. The contribution of this study is threefold: theoretical, conceptual, and practical. This study contributed theoretically by introducing the post-adoption framework of OGD that comprises the acceptance, routinization, and infusion stages. As the majority of OGD adoption studies conclude their analysis at the adoption (decisions) phase, this study gives novel insight to extend the analysis into unexplored territory, specifically the post-adoption phase. Conceptually, this study presents two new factors in the environmental context to be explored in the OGD adoption study, namely, the data demand and incentives. The fact that data providers are not influenced by data requests from the agency's external environment and incentive offerings is something that needs further investigation. In practicality, the findings of this study are anticipated to assist policymakers in strategizing for long-term OGD implementation from the data provider's perspective. This effort is crucial to ensure that the OGD initiatives will be incorporated into the public sector's service thrust and become one of the digital government services provided to the citizen.