Open Government Data Use by the Public Sector - an Overview of its Benefits, Barriers, Drivers, and Enablers

Abstract

Although governments publish large amounts of open data, their use by the public sector is still in its infancy. Therefore, this study aims to gain insights into promoted benefits and factors that hinder (barriers), facilitate (enablers), and propel (drivers) Open Government Data (OGD) use and reuse by the public sector. A systematic literature review of 38 publications resulted in an overview of these factors. Findings suggest that OGD use benefits are increased transparency and the development of new/improved processes, products, and services. Moreover, open data institutionalization and pressure from external stakeholders drive the use. However, data issues and the lack of supporting open data organizational structure, capacity, and skills hinder OGD use. While the existence of open data policy and laws, motivated leadership, and open data infrastructure enable it. Thus, if OGD use is to reach maturity, administrations need to create the means to institutionalize open data.

Open government data use: The Brazilian states and federal district cases

“…This study builds on and expands on previous works. Categories of data used, OGD uses, benefits, barriers, enablers, and drivers were distilled from our literature review reported in [ 35 ]. Moreover, the questionnaire’s complete results were published in [ 36 ].…”

What Is the Process of Data Practitioners Utilizing Open Government Data?

“…According to the Organization for Economic Co‐operation and Development (OECD), OGD promotes transparency, accountability, and value creation by making government data accessible to all, encouraging business innovation and citizen‐centric services. Numerous studies have highlighted OGD's potential for driving data‐driven economic development and improving public services (Herala et al, 2018; Kawashita et al, 2022; Magalhaes & Roseira, 2020; Pereira et al, 2017). In Taiwan, the government actively promotes OGD utilization, leading to various applications in different industries.…”

The role of open government data and information and communication technology in meeting the employment‐related information needs of unemployed South African youth

“…Despite the acknowledged potential value of OGD for society, several barriers hinder the use thereof. These barriers include; the cost to access information, lack of technical skills, inability to interact with service providers and the culture of not using open data (Kawashita et al, 2022).…”

“…Open government data has been defined as a philosophy and, increasingly, a set of policies promoting transparency, accountability and value creation by making government data available to all (Kawashita et al, 2022; OECD, 2019). Governments around the world make their data available to the public with the aim of benefiting (Dawes et al, 2016) and providing ICT tools to enable citizens to access government information more easily (Al‐Kubaisi, 2018).…”