The barriers to the opening of government data in the UK: A view from the bottom

Abstract

This paper explores some of the key barriers to Open Government Data (OGD) that responsible civil servants in the UK face as they try to comply with the UK-led OGD initiative. Empirically, we provide a quantitative analysis of the resources published on the government’s central OGD portal, data.gov.uk, and a unique insight into the publishing of OGD in the UK based on 22 interviews with responsible individuals at the operational level of publishing OGD. Our findings reveal that while the barriers to open government information have been substantially reduced, the barriers to open government data persist. Even the most enthusiastic responsible individuals face considerable obstacles in publishing OGD. Further, a key barrier to OGD in the UK is its impression management strategy based on its informational rather than data orientation. Due to the UK’s pioneering position in the OGD initiative, these findings are relevant to understanding and improving OGD programmes at local, national and international levels. The findings may subsequently lead to evidence-based strategies and policies.

Individual Perspectives on Data Sharing: Human Factors Impacting the Digital Economy

“…In some cases, they are explicitly linked. For example, individual perspectives on the value of sharing data directly influence the extent to which they perceive institutional barriers (Wang et al, 2019). The themes identified are described through a human factors lens, but are related to the themes in reviews focused on institutional barriers (e.g.…”

“…With the tasks not part of the formal incentive system in place, they are done ad hoc, if at all (Shao et al, 2019). Similarly, Wang et al (2019) found that immediate managers were not supportive, regardless of levels of support at senior levels of government.…”

“…There is also some evidence that we project our own beliefs onto the culture we perceive, with individual perspectives on who owns government data impacting how one perceives a data sharing imperative (Nuhu et al (2020), Wang et al (2019). Another study suggested that a culture of data sharing might not be sufficient: they describe respondents who report a belief that their workplace has a strong culture of data sharing and that they are expected to share data, but they do not personally take part in data sharing (Jeng et al, 2016).…”

Characteristics of Open Government Data (OGD) Around the World: A Country-based Comparative Meta-Analysis

“…In the same year, Saxena (2018a) investigated the OGD initiatives among six Middle Eastern countries, Cyprus, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, Lebanon, and Jordan. Research studies on OGDs either focused on a single country (e.g., Tang, et al, 2019;Wang, Shepherd, & Button, 2019;Wieczorkowski & Pawełoszek, 2018) or investigated multiple countries in one study (e.g., Yi, 2019;Nayek, 2018;Lourenço, 2015). As an example of a multi-country investigation, Ham, Koo, and Lee (2019) covered 13 countries from North America, Europe, Asia, South America, and Oceania.…”

“…Examples of a single country study include Tang et al (2019) on the US states and capital cities' OGDs, Wang et al (2019) on the UK OGDs, and Wang, Chen, & Richards (2018) on the Chinese province-level OGDs.…”