Providing a clearer view: An examination of transparency on local government websites

Abstract This study examines the role of content professionalism and public outreach, along with partisanship in the availability of online local public information. Comparing county and school board websites in Florida, the author suggests that online public records serve as a proxy for the entity's overall level of transparency. A content analysis of 134 local government websites reveals that school boards had a higher level of transparency than counties in Florida, while websites with a more professional look and those located in communities with a high Republican proportion had greater transparency than others. Finally, implications for scholars and government leaders are discussed.

[1]  G ReddickChristopher.  Public-sector e-commerce and state financial management , 2004 .

[2]  Eric W. Welch,et al.  Same Bed, Different Dreams? A Comparative Analysis of Citizen and Bureaucrat Perspectives on E-Government , 2005 .

[3]  Christopher G. Reddick,et al.  Public-Sector E-Commerce and State Financial Management , 2004 .

[4]  M. J. Moon,et al.  Advancing E‐Government at the Grassroots: Tortoise or Hare? , 2005 .

[5]  Caroline J. Tolbert,et al.  The Effects of E-Government on Trust and Confidence in Government , 2003, DG.O.

[6]  José Ramón Gil-García,et al.  Understanding the evolution of e-government: The influence of systems of rules on public sector dynamics , 2007, Gov. Inf. Q..

[7]  Christopher G. Reddick,et al.  A two-stage model of e-government growth: Theories and empirical evidence for U.S. cities , 2004, Gov. Inf. Q..

[8]  Christopher G. Reddick,et al.  The perceived impacts of e-government on U.S. cities: A survey of Florida and Texas City managers , 2007, Gov. Inf. Q..

[9]  Kathleen Hale,et al.  E-disclosure laws and electronic campaign finance reform: Lessons from the diffusion of e-government policies in the States , 2007, Gov. Inf. Q..

[10]  Caroline J. Tolbert,et al.  Innovating in Digital Government in the American States , 2003 .

[11]  Carolyn Ball,et al.  What Is Transparency? , 2009 .

[12]  Irving Dilliard,et al.  The People's Right to Know: Legal Access to Public Records and Proceedings. , 1954 .

[13]  M. Asgarkhani.  The Reality of Social Inclusion Through Digital Government , 2007 .

[14]  Yuan.  The People＇s Right To Know , 2012 .

[15]  Caroline J. Tolbert,et al.  Institutions, Policy Innovation, and E-Government in the American States , 2008 .

[16]  C. Demchak,et al.  Democracy and Bureaucracy in the Age of the Web , 2002 .

[17]  Cary Coglianese,et al.  The Transparency President? The Obama Administration and Open Government , 2009 .

[18]  Alastair G. Smith,et al.  Applying evaluation criteria to New Zealand government websites , 2001, Int. J. Inf. Manag..

[19]  Andrés Maldonado,et al.  Understanding the evolution of the Scotia Arc , 2013 .

[20]  D. West.  E‐Government and the Transformation of Service Delivery and Citizen Attitudes , 2004 .

[21]  Maria Laura Sudulich,et al.  Digital Citizenship, The Internet, Society, and Participation , 2008 .

[22]  Eric W. Welch,et al.  Same Bed, Different Dreams? A Comparative Analysis of Citizen and Bureaucrat Perspectives on E-Government , 2004, 37th Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, 2004. Proceedings of the.

[23]  Caroline J. Tolbert,et al.  Digital Citizenship: The Internet, Society, and Participation , 2007 .

[24]  Cory L. Armstrong.  Exploring a Two-dimensional Model of Community Pluralism and Its Effects on the Level of Transparency in Community Decision Making , 2008 .

[25]  C. Weare,et al.  Designing Web Technologies for Local Governance Reform: Good Management or Good Democracy? , 2000 .

[26]  Jeffrey E. Cohen,et al.  Citizen satisfaction with contacting government on the internet , 2006, Inf. Polity.

[27]  Genie N. L. Stowers,et al.  Becoming cyberactive: State and local governments on the World Wide Web , 1999, Gov. Inf. Q..