Explaining the transparency of local government websites through a political market framework

Tavares, António and Cruz, Nuno, (2017). Explaining the transparency of local government websites through a political market framework. Government Information Quarterly, 1-13

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  • Sub-type Journal article
    Author Tavares, António
    Cruz, Nuno
    Title Explaining the transparency of local government websites through a political market framework
    Appearing in Government Information Quarterly
    Publication Date 2017-08
    Place of Publication Amsterdam
    Publisher Elsevier
    Start page 1
    End page 13
    Language eng
    Abstract This paper contributes to the literature on government transparency by addressing the question of what drives the differences in local government levels of transparency. Our main objective is to ascertain whether transparency is mainly driven by the leadership, capacity and other political traits of the local governments themselves – “supply-side determinants” – or, rather, if it hinges on social, cultural and/or other local community factors (“demand-side” determinants). We test the hypotheses derived from this theoretical framework using the results of the Municipal Transparency Index which is based on the information disclosed in the local governments' official websites and was applied to all Portuguese municipalities for the first time in 2013. Our findings indicate that municipalities with less financial autonomy, run by male mayors, with a larger number of consecutive terms in office, and smaller margins of victory in local elections display lower levels of transparency. On the demand-side, the unemployment rate and the average age of the municipal population emerge as the best predictors and are both negatively associated with transparency.
    UNBIS Thesaurus ACCESS TO INFORMATION
    Keyword Government websites
    Local governance
    Municipalities
    Transparency indexes
    Copyright Holder Elsevier
    Copyright Year 2017
    Copyright type All rights reserved
    DOI 10.1016/j.giq.2017.08.005
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    Created: Wed, 18 Jul 2018, 00:36:45 JST by Mario Peixoto on behalf of UNU EGOV