Transparency Efforts Research Articles

Harnessing the Power of Social Media for Promoting Transparency in Collaborative Governance through Non-State Actors: A Comparative Case Analysis of South Africa and Zimbabwe

Objective: Collaborative governance is an innovative approach to address complex societal challenges, involving partnerships between state and non-state actors. Consequently, social media is powerful tools for promoting transparency and accountability. Methodology: The study examines the role of non-state actors in leveraging social media to enhance transparency in collaborative governance initiatives. The research analyses two case studies - the #FeesMustFall campaign in South Africa and the #Tajamuka/Sesijikile campaign in Zimbabwe. Results: Through a qualitative analysis of the case studies, the study explores how non-state actors, such as civil society organizations and activist groups, have utilized social media to amplify their voices, mobilize public support, and exert pressure on government entities. Findings reveal that effective use of social media can empower non-state actors to overcome information asymmetries, facilitate public scrutiny, and foster collaborative problem-solving. Conclusions: However, contextual factors, such as political environments and digital access, shapes the dynamics of social media-driven transparency efforts.

Protection of personal data and commercially confidential information under the Clinical Trials Regulation (EU) No. 536/ 2014 – EMA “Revised CTIS Transparency Rules”

The Clinical Trials Regulation (EU) No 536/2014 (CTR) came in force on January 31, 2022, specifying requirements for performing clinical trials in the EU and the European Economic Area (EEA). The CTR and the Clinical Trials Information System (CTIS) harmonise the approval process of clinical trials across the EU/EEA, provide a transparent process, and increase public access to information from clinical trials. Such transparency efforts must assure protection of personal data and commercially confidential information. The CTIS transparency rules were revised and recently implemented. The revised CTIS transparency rules focus on easier and earlier access by the public to documents of primary focus for patients and researchers. This article highlights the protection of personal data and commercially confidential information in public clinical trial documents according to the revised rules and also the EMA Policy 0070, which have overlapping transparency requirements. Medical writers and other functions involved in the preparation of regulatory documents during the clinical drug development play an integral role in applying transparency principles.

Effect of Transparency Initiatives on Public Trust in Government in Kenya

Purpose: To aim of the study was to analyze the effect of transparency initiatives on public trust in government in Kenya. Methodology: This study adopted a desk methodology. A desk study research design is commonly known as secondary data collection. This is basically collecting data from existing resources preferably because of its low cost advantage as compared to a field research. Our current study looked into already published studies and reports as the data was easily accessed through online journals and libraries. Findings: Transparency initiatives in Kenya have shown a positive impact on public trust in government. Efforts such as open access to government information, transparent budgeting processes, and public participation in decision-making have increased accountability and reduced corruption. These initiatives have led to greater citizen engagement and trust, as the public perceives the government to be more accountable and responsive to their needs. However, challenges remain in fully implementing these initiatives, and inconsistencies in transparency efforts can still undermine public trust. Unique Contribution to Theory, Practice and Policy: Social exchange theory, institutional theory & information processing theory may be used to anchor future studies on the effect of transparency initiatives on public trust in government in Kenya. Continuously improve online transparency portals by enhancing user interfaces, ensuring data accuracy, and expanding the scope of information available. Develop sector-specific transparency policies tailored to the unique needs of different governmental sectors (e.g., healthcare, education). This approach ensures that transparency initiatives address sector-specific challenges and enhance sector-specific public trust. Invest in training programs for public officials on transparency practices and the effective use of transparency tools.

Does the transparency of sustainability reports matter?Aquantitative assessment

AbstractDespite the recognized advantages of sustainability disclosure and transparency in reducing information asymmetries, the quality of sustainability reports often falls short. Measuring sustainability disclosure transparency is challenging due to its multidimensional nature, necessitating a comprehensive approach. Moreover, the impact of sustainability reporting transparency on firm performance remains ambiguous. Therefore, this study examines 177 reports from companies listed in the Dow Jones sustainability index (DJSI) World index, manually collecting information on transparency indicators and subdimensions. Grounded on the disclosure, clarity, and accuracy (DCA) framework introduced by Schnackenberg and Tomlinson, a factor analysis is conducted to construct the transparency index, followed by testing research hypotheses using a linear regression model via ordinary least squares (OLS). By providing a quantitative assessment of sustainability report transparency, this study investigates its influence on firm performance. Our findings support existing research linking firm performance to the transparency of sustainability reports. Surprisingly, contrary to expectations, our study reveals that increased transparency efforts are associated with lower firm performance.

Employer Strategies for Health Care Price Transparency.

This paper describes hospital, insurance, and pharmaceutical price transparency policies and applications in the United States and in selected countries around the world. Many of these policies apply to self-insured employers. So far, the experience in the United States and elsewhere is clear that federal and state price transparency regulations have had little impact on whether employees or dependents search for low-cost or high-quality providers or on the cost and quality of their health care. This is because of weak regulatory oversight, conflicting federal and state reporting requirements, and few economic incentives for providers and insurance companies to supply easily readable or analyzable price information. However, price transparency requirements are here to stay. This paper therefore offers several recommendations to maximize the utility of price transparency tools provided for employees and other insureds, by their employers, providers, commercial insurance carriers, or technology firms. From a policy perspective, coupling reporting requirements with clearer technological guidance and much stronger regulatory oversight would increase the utility of price transparency efforts. For individual employers, the impact of price transparency efforts may increase by coupling price transparency tools with health plan network and design strategies, behavioral economic nudges, and programs designed to improve health, well-being, and quality of care. Many program vendor partners, consultants, and actuarial, technology, and research firms can help make these efforts useful.

Implementation of Good Governance in Improving the Quality of Public Services at the Fatuaruin Village Office, Sasitamean District, Malaka District

This research aims to assess the Application of Good Governance in Enhancing Public Service Quality at the Fatuaruin Village Office, Sasitamean District, Malacca Regency, utilizing descriptive research methods with a qualitative approach. A total of 7 informants were purposively sampled for data collection through observations, interviews, and documentation analysis. The theoretical framework employed is based on the work of Ramdani et al (2022). The findings reveal challenges in the implementation of good governance at the Fatuaruin Village Office. Transparency is compromised, particularly in disseminating information related to business licensing services, leading to public perception that transparency efforts are not fully optimized. Responsiveness falls short as officials are frequently unavailable when needed, causing delays in service. The fairness of services provided is questioned, with instances of unequal treatment and illegal levies. Effectiveness and efficiency are criticized due to slow services that deviate from predetermined standards, resulting in community dissatisfaction with time and cost implications. Several obstacles impede the effective implementation of good governance in the village, including limited resources, insufficient awareness among officials, a lack of community involvement, and instances of corruption and nepotism. Recommendations include optimizing the principles of good governance—transparency, responsiveness, fairness, and efficiency—considering local contexts. This optimization is expected to enhance the quality of services provided, ensuring satisfaction within the community.

Price Transparency in United States' Health Care: A Narrative Policy Review of the Current State and Way Forward.

Health care price transparency is gaining momentum as a tangible policy intervention that can unleash market principles to increase competition, help begin to decrease U.S. health care expenditures, and provide Americans with access to affordable, high-quality health care. Indeed, pricing reform is required to facilitate patient shopping in health care. In this narrative policy review, we offer a brief history of health care price transparency efforts and an overview of the health care price transparency literature. Further, we highlight the current rules and legislative initiatives aimed at achieving the full potential of health care price transparency. Lastly, we offer key takeaways and highlight suggestions for future policy directions, including the need to ensure hospital and insurance compliance through more appropriate penalties and incentives, importance of reducing regulation to promote financial upside that can be obtained by both patients and providers who actively promote shopping for lower cost, higher quality health care goods and services, and the need for transparent and easily found quality metrics, including outcomes most important to patients, driven by physicians "on the ground" with patient input.

تحليل الخطب السياسية حول العنصرية للرئيس دونالد ترامب خلال فترة رئاسته

This paper attempts to illuminate the ways in which racist ideology is represented and articulated in everyday discourse. Since racism has been and continues to be, a driving force behind segregation in the United States, American rhetoric has been selected as the data for this investigation. This research analyses the speeches of US President Donald Trump on racism towards Muslim people through linguistic, social, and cultural perspectives. The study is an attempt to cast light on the strategies that are used express racism in the President’s speeches. To achieve the research objectives, the researcher used the qualitative approach. The data was collected from six major speeches on racism made by President Donald Trump and downloaded from YouTube and the Euronews Arabic online channel. Fairclough model (1995) is used as the main analysis model in this research. The results show that the self-other schema was heavily evident in Trump's speech, in which he effectively portrayed himself as a national hero who wants to rescue America from suffering and disaster while painting Muslims in a bad light. This study also revealed Trump's transparent effort to promote his virtuous persona by using a number of rhetorical methods meant to instill undesirable traits to Muslims, such as pronounced Islamophobia. The results show that Trump utilizes demagogic language to establish a gap between Muslims and Americans, which he then uses to metaphorically exclude individuals of other ethnic identities, particularly Muslims.

Qualitative Analysis of Transparency Efforts in Public Policy at the Village Level

Qualitative Analysis of Transparency Efforts in Public Policy at the Village Level

Giving Spoilers the Space : How Transparency Efforts Doomed the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (ttip)

Abstract The Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (ttip) underwent three years of negotiations by the EU and US, both experienced and capable negotiators, yet the negotiations failed, raising questions. This article delves into the factors that caused ttip’s demise by examining the negotiation structure, the impact of secrecy versus transparency, and the disruptive influence of spoilers. The change in negotiation structure caused a cascading effect, enabling disruptive actors to flourish, and causing the negotiators to switch from an integrative negotiation strategy into a distributive strategy. To enhance the chances of success and avoid similar pitfalls, this article presents recommendations: (1) maintaining a consistent negotiation structure, (2) coordinating any structural changes with the negotiation partner, (3) expanding the agreement’s scope to garner more internal political support, and (4) establishing political backing before commencing negotiations. By addressing these issues, future negotiations can mitigate risks and improve their chances of achieving desired outcomes.

Satellites and the Changing Politics of Transparency in World Politics

This article explores the degree to which commercial satellite imagery has empowered non-state actors in the politics of transparency in world politics. This question has received renewed attention in the wake of the disclosure of China’s new missile silos in 2021 as well as Russia’s war against Ukraine since 2022. The article contributes to research on this question by teasing out the competition over authority undergirding the politics of transparency. It does so in two steps: it conceptualizes the politics of transparency as involving a combination of state and non-state actors engaging in transparency efforts against another state or other states and it distinguishes four aspects of the empowerment of non-state actors in such constellations of actors: (a) the emergence of new or better disclosure devices that (b) bolster the expertise of some non-state actors, (c) giving them more influence over public debates, and (d) prompting changes in the policies of relevant actors. The article uses this framework to explore the factors that affected the degree of empowerment of non-state actors in the two cases of China’s new missile silos as well as Russia’s war against Ukraine. It highlights three factors: the interplay between state and non-state transparency makers, the polarization of public spheres, and the ability of states targeted by the transparency efforts to fragment public spheres.

Beauty retailers push for ingredient transparency

A coalition of major beauty product stores has formed to collect and share chemical hazard data on ingredients used by the personal care industry. The Know Better, Do Better Collaborative so far includes the retailers Sephora, Ulta Beauty, Credo, Beautycounter, and The Honest Company, as well as the personal care chemical maker Inolex and the Environmental Defense Fund, a nonprofit. The effort is organized by Chem- FORWARD, a nonprofit that says its goal is “creating broad access to chemical hazard data, illuminating safer alternatives, and ending toxic chemical exposure.” In addition to beauty and personal care, ChemFORWARD has initiatives in packaging and electronics. The group says an analysis it conducted in 2022 found that detailed chemical hazard data are available for only about half of the ingredients used in beauty and personal care products. “These data gaps create risk for brands, retailers, and consumers,” the group says. Other transparency efforts

A public health crisis in the university: Impact of crisis response strategies on universities’ transparency and post-crisis relationships during COVID 19 pandemic

During the COVID 19 pandemic, one of the most critical tasks of the university was to effectively communicate with students, faculty, and staff members. This study aims to explore perceived universities’ crisis response messages during the pandemic and examine the effectiveness of each response strategy on public relations outcomes. A survey with 346 university students in the U.S., results showed how defensive and accommodative response strategies differently affected PR outcomes. Accommodative strategies generated higher OPR and greater perceived transparency efforts among students, while several defensive strategies affected students’ negative evaluations on post-crisis OPR and perceived transparency of their universities. Such results revealed valuable insights that make significant contributions to theory and practices in university crisis communication and management, especially when dealing with public health crises that are seen as external locus of control.

HARPER — protocol template for real-world trials for evaluating treatment efficacy

The International Society of Pharmacoepidemiology (ISPE) and the International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR) have created a joint task force, including representatives of key international stakeholders, to create a coordinated protocol template for RWE studies that assess the effect of treatment and is designed to inform decision-making. The template is based on existing transparency efforts and includes the state-of-art ideas regarding the level of detail required to ensure reproducibility of the RWE study. The underlying principle was to achieve sufficient clarity regarding research data, design, analysis and implementation to achieve the three main objectives. Firstly, to help researchers carefully consider and document the choice and justification of the key parameters of the study, secondly, to facilitate decision-making by allowing reviewers to easily assess potential bias associated with the choice, and thirdly, to ensure research reproducibility.

Transformational Transparency in Supply Chains: Leveraging Technology to Drive Radical Change

Many companies are implementing transparency initiatives to improve environmental and social impacts throughout their supply chains. Meaningful change, however, is elusive, and transparency efforts are often criticized as legitimizing mechanisms or “window-dressing.” This article introduces a model of transformational transparency that enables new insights to drive radical change in companies and supply chains, as well as in industries and society at large. The model highlights the need for technological investments grounded in improving data, empowering stakeholders, and applying moral leadership. It presents examples that demonstrate how the model allows companies to foster dramatic improvements in social and environmental impacts.

The miracle of anti-corruption efforts and regional fiscal independence in plugging budget leakage: evidence from western and eastern Indonesia

The leakage of the Anggaran Pendapatan dan Belanja Daerah (APBD: Regional Revenue and Expenditure Budget) has been officially reported by the Corruption Eradication Commission of the Republic of Indonesia to have reached 40 per cent. The purpose of this study is to examine the effectiveness of measures to eradicate corruption and the ways that fiscal independence can stop the leakage of local governments budget in western (WI) and eastern (EI) Indonesia. This study uses the System GMM dynamic panel method and stochastic frontier analysis (SFA). The result finds that effort to eradicate corruption, such as reporting gratification can reduce budget leakage in WI and EI. The result also discovers that the public complaint has the effect of reducing budget leakage in EI, while it continues to grow in WI. Increase the status of the Audit Board (BPK's opinion) can increase budget leakage in WI and EI. Ratio of locally-generated revenue (RLGR) and ratio of transfer (RT) as fiscal independence proxies are defined as triggers for corruption in terms of budget leakage. The budget leakage is bigger in EI than WI, despite the fact that the increase in the leakage ratio the year before caused the leakage in the years that followed. Transparency efforts must continue to be encouraged for the realisation of a clean government.

Correlates of Price Transparency for Healthcare Services in United States Hospitals.

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to investigate demographic and hospital characteristics that predict hospital price transparency in the United States.MethodsWe identified 6214 hospitals and extracted characteristics of each using the American Hospital Association Annual Survey, as well as cash prices for a representative selection of commonly performed procedures and visits from the Turquoise Health dataset. Descriptive statistics were used to determine compliance rates and price variation, and a Poisson regression model was used to calculate incidence rate ratios (IRR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for predictors of price transparency.ResultsPrice transparency compliance ranged from 13% to 49% of hospitals, and across-center ratios ranged from 244.8 to 4789.0. Number of hospital beds was marginally associated with price transparency for more services (IRR: 1.01 [95% CI: 1.01–1.02]); in contrast, location in the Southern (IRR: 0.91 [95% CI: 0.87–0.96]) or Western (IRR: 0.94 [95% CI: 0.90–0.99]) regions of the US was associated with transparency for fewer services.ConclusionSmaller hospitals as well as those located in the South and West regions were less likely to be compliant with the CMS mandate for price transparency for hospital standard charges. Additionally, the poor usability of price transparency directories on hospital websites limits information access and undermines transparency efforts.

Supply chain transparency: Consumer reactions to incongruent signals

AbstractIn response to consumers' growing interest in how products are sourced, produced, and distributed, organizations are increasingly transparent about their supply chain sustainability practices. Supply chain transparency (SCT) efforts are intended to signal positive information about the company to consumers but the benefits are often unclear, especially when consumers receive multiple, but mixed signals that include negative events. We draw on signaling theory to explore how consumers develop impressions of a company's products based on different evaluative dimensions: the positive integrity signal of SCT and the negative capability signal of a product recall. The incongruent signal set creates ambiguity for consumers in assessing product quality and subsequent purchase decisions. We develop two scenario‐based experiments to test aspects of interdimensional signal incongruence. Experiment 1 investigates the magnitude of signal incongruity by considering combinations of different levels of SCT and product recall severity. Experiment 2 investigates the temporal effect of the incongruent signals, considering the restorative effect of SCT after a product recall signal has been received. While product recall signals are salient for consumers in shaping perceptions of product quality and purchase intentions across both experiments, we demonstrate the strategic value of SCT as a positive integrity signal to consumers.

A Coordinated Analysis Examining the Association Between Personality Traits and Cognitive Dispersion

Cognitive dispersion is the degree of within-person variation in performance across cognitive tasks at the same testing occasion. Existing literature indicates that cognitive dispersion may be an early marker of poor brain health, dementia and mortality. Limited research, however, has examined individual differences in cognitive dispersion. Although personality traits are associated with individual differences in cognitive functioning, no research has examined personality and cognitive dispersion. In this project, we execute a pre-registered, coordinated analysis of seven diverse, international longitudinal studies of aging (Ntotal=33,581; mean age range=56.4-71.2) to investigate the extent to which the Big Five personality traits are associated with cognitive dispersion. For methodological approach, see /osf.io/wrnjq/. Cognitive dispersion scores were derived from cognitive test results, and independent linear regression models were fit independently in each study to examine personality traits as predictors of dispersion scores, adjusting for mean cognitive performance and socio-demographics (age, sex, education). Results from individual studies were synthesized using random-effects meta-analyses. Results revealed minimal evidence for associations between cognitive dispersion and personality traits in independent analyses or in meta-analyses. Based on the meta-analytic estimates, only higher levels of openness were associated with greater cognitive dispersion. Mean cognitive scores were negatively associated with cognitive dispersion across the majority of studies, indicating that individuals with higher mean performance had less dispersed cognitive scores. Our study contributes to the replicability and transparency efforts characteristic of open science by pre-registering our study and drawing on the collaborative network of the Integrative Analysis of Longitudinal Studies of Aging and Dementia (IALSA).

Enhancing transparency through open government data: the case of data portals and their features and capabilities

PurposeThe purpose of this paper was to draw on evidence from computer-mediated transparency and examine the argument that open government data and national data infrastructures represented by open data portals can help in enhancing transparency by providing various relevant features and capabilities for stakeholders' interactions.Design/methodology/approachThe developed methodology consisted of a two-step strategy to investigate research questions. First, a web content analysis was conducted to identify the most common features and capabilities provided by existing national open data portals. The second step involved performing the Delphi process by surveying domain experts to measure the diversity of their opinions on this topic.FindingsIdentified features and capabilities were classified into categories and ranked according to their importance. By formalizing these feature-related transparency mechanisms through which stakeholders work with data sets we provided recommendations on how to incorporate them into designing and developing open data portals.Social implicationsThe creation of appropriate open data portals aims to fulfil the principles of open government and enables stakeholders to effectively engage in the policy and decision-making processes.Originality/valueBy analyzing existing national open data portals and validating the feature-related transparency mechanisms, this paper fills this gap in existing literature on designing and developing open data portals for transparency efforts.