IT-enhanced popular reports: Analyzing citizen preferences

Cohen, Sandra; Mamakou, Xenia J.; Karatzimas, Sotirios

doi:10.1016/j.giq.2017.04.003

Cited by 50 publications

(65 citation statements)

References 47 publications

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“…Recent advances in Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs), based on the use of Web 2.0 and social media (SM), have created great expectations for the improvement of government-to-citizen relations because of their potential to improve transparency, communication, collaboration and citizen engagement (Bertot et al, 2012;Bonsón et al, 2012;Haro-de-Rosario et al, 2018). Analyzing the use of these technologies to present financial information to citizens in a proactive, user-friendly, dynamic and understandable way is an interesting challenge that deserves further research (Cohen et al, 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Financial Transparency in the Web 2.0 Era. An Analysis of the use of Websites and Social Media by Spanish Municipalities

Royo-Montañés¹,

Yetano²,

García‐Lacalle³

2020

RC-SAR

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El objetivo de este trabajo es evaluar el papel de las páginas web y medios de comunicación social en el aumento de la transparencia de tipo financiero en las entidades locales. Esta investigación analiza 60 ayuntamientos clasificados en 4 niveles de población y combina análisis cuantitativos y cualitativos: un análisis del contenido de páginas web; una exploración del uso de medios de comunicación social; y un estudio en profundidad de los contenidos publicados en Facebook y Twitter durante un año. Los resultados muestran que los municipios españoles todavía tienen que realizar esfuerzos significativos para aumentar sus niveles de transparencia financiera. La información publicada se centra principalmente en cuestiones de tipo presupuestario. El uso de Facebook y Twitter por parte de los municipios está generalizado. Sin embargo, la utilización de estas plataformas para la revelación de información de tipo financiero está muy poco desarrollada. La mayor parte de los municipios de mayor tamaño han creado portales de datos abiertos, aunque la apertura de conjuntos de datos de tipo presupuestario o financiero es muy limitada. Los municipios tienen que realizar esfuerzos importantes para cumplir con las nuevas demandas y requerimientos de transparencia financiera. Deberían tomarse medidas para mejorar la transparencia, particularmente entre los municipios de pequeño y mediano tamaño. Asimismo, también se hace necesario definir qué se entiende por información clara, estructurada, comprensible y reutilizable para proporcionar un marco de revelación común para las entidades del sector público. The objective of this paper is to evaluate the role of websites and social media (SM) in increasing local government financial transparency. The research includes 60 Spanish municipalities classified into 4 population levels and combines quantitative and qualitative analyses: a website content examination; an exploration of the use of SM platforms; and an in-depth study of the content published in Facebook and Twitter over a one-year period. Results show that Spanish municipalities still have to make important efforts to increase their levels of financial transparency. Disclosures are mainly focused on budgetary information. The use of Facebook and Twitter by municipalities has become commonplace. However, their use for financial disclosures is underdeveloped. Most of the biggest cities have created open data portals although the disclosure of budgetary and financial datasets is limited. Municipalities have to make important efforts to comply with new demands and requirements for financial transparency. Measures should be taken to enhance transparency, particularly among medium and small municipalities. A definition of clear, structured, understandable and reusable information is needed in order to provide a common disclosure framework for public sector entities.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Financial Transparency in the Web 2.0 Era. An Analysis of the use of Websites and Social Media by Spanish Municipalities

Royo-Montañés¹,

Yetano²,

García‐Lacalle³

2020

RC-SAR

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“…This phenomenon appears to be consistent with the recent development and growth of more advanced technologies. This trend is coherent with the objective pursued by public sector entities to improve the dialogue with their citizens, experiencing new tools such as integrated reporting and so-called popular reporting (Cohen et al, 2017). Accordingly, a future research agenda could concern the disclosure level of these tools, as well as the role of social media in the level of disclosure of public sector entities, considering their relevant role in the current digital democratic era.…”

Section: Future Research Directionsmentioning

confidence: 72%

Disclosure Quality Measurement in the Public Sector: A Structured Literature Review

Bisogno¹,

Citro²,

Santis³

et al. 2017

IJBM

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The study investigates previous research concerning disclosure quality measurement in the public sector context. The principal motivation for undertaking this analysis is the growing body of literature that has examined this issue from different perspectives in light of the increasing attention paid by academics and practitioners to the transparency and accountability of public sector entities. The study adopts a structured research methodology, aiming to offer a critical overview of the state of the art, highlighting the main issues investigated by scholars and the areas of research which are under-investigated, unveiling emerging gaps. In so doing, this study outlines a future research agenda.

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“…It would be appropriate to promote these documents on the institutional homepage with a direct link or an appealing special section dedicated to reporting for citizens, in order to attract people to read them. This can help to improve the citizen use of popular reports that is currently limited at international level (Cohen et al, 2017;Yusuf et al, 2017). Furthermore, easy access to the disclosed data on the website portals can help governments improve their levels of openness and transparency towards their communities, supporting effective public accountability and participation (Groff & Pitman, 2004;UN, 2014, p. 77;Lourenço, 2015).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It is very important to fill the information gap that exists between citizens and governments because this gap hinders effective citizen participation in governance processes (Jordan et al, 2016;Manes Rossi, 2019). As some studies have proven, providing popular financial data and making them accessible through websites and thus, helping to close the information gap, would increase accountability and public participation in governance (Jordan et al, 2016;Cohen et al, 2017). More in general, providing information about performance for citizens -as well as to all stakeholders -can encourage collaborative governance through the constructive engagement of people in public policy decision making and management (Emerson et al, 2012).…”

Section: Focusing On (And Acting For) Citizensmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In addition, popular financial reports do not automatically impact citizens (Kloby, 2009). Indeed, as revealed by Cohen, Mamakou and Karatzimas (2017), the citizen usage of popular reports is limited, although internet and information technologies could improve this use for accountability purposes and encourage the democratic participation of citizens. Accordingly, it is essential to make the reports accessible in government websites in order to increase their openness to an external audience and, in addition, improve citizens' trust in governments (Groff & Pitman, 2004;Lourenço, 2015;Biancone et al, 2018).…”

Section: Reporting For Citizensmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Citizen-Centered Reporting: Assessing Popular Financial Reporting Practice in Italian Decentralized Governments

Gesso¹,

Romagnoli²

2020

IJBM

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Given their proximity to citizens, Decentralized Governments (DGs) need to perform and report their activities from a citizen-centered perspective to improve transparency and accountability. The literature addressing reporting for citizens is piecemeal, and there is a dearth of studies that systematically analyze country experiences of popular reporting. To contribute to bridging this gap, this article provides an assessment of popular financial reporting practices in 370 Italian DGs from different perspectives. The authors evaluated the accessibility and readability of popular reports using simple, yet insightful quantitative measures. The results highlighted that Italian popular financial reporting practices are at an early stage of implementation. Popular reporting appears to be more difficult to implement in smaller municipalities than other levels of government. This research emphasizes citizen-centered reporting to support citizen-centered governance and accountability, suggesting that popular reporting practices in DGs need to increase; an improvement of the accessibility and readability of documents is also advisable to foster their usage. Greater and better popular reporting practices in DGs are needed to encourage citizen participation in the democratic processes of public governance in order to allow for better government performance results.

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IT-enhanced popular reports: Analyzing citizen preferences

Cited by 50 publications

References 47 publications

Financial Transparency in the Web 2.0 Era. An Analysis of the use of Websites and Social Media by Spanish Municipalities

Financial Transparency in the Web 2.0 Era. An Analysis of the use of Websites and Social Media by Spanish Municipalities

Disclosure Quality Measurement in the Public Sector: A Structured Literature Review

Citizen-Centered Reporting: Assessing Popular Financial Reporting Practice in Italian Decentralized Governments

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