Open Government Data Practices

Governments hold large amounts of digital information about their territorial geography, infrastructure, budget, demography and public services such as education, transportation and healthcare, among other aspects of society. When released, this data is referred to as Open Government Data and can constitute an asset for social good, economic development and increased transparency and efficiency in public administration. Among academics the topic of Open Government Data has gained importance over the last few years, with research conducted pertaining to the influence of Open Government Data policies on individual countries. The emergence of countries’ Open Government Data practices has not been quantitatively assessed yet. This research is conducting the first global and quantitative research on the factors influencing the emergence of Open Government Data practices. An international ranking of countries Open Government Data performance is used to analyze the association to the level of economic development, effectiveness of public administrations, the civil society’s strength and the engagement of international organisations. Data is derived from reputable sources such as the World Bank’s Worldwide Governance Indicators and the World Development Indicators. This research reveals that Open Government Data practices are globally spread through high public sector performance, international policy transfers of international organisations, the desire for more transparency and accountability by the civil society and the demand for free public sector information by the private sector. The value added to the existing body of research lies in this research’s quantitative nature as most of research is qualitative.