Abstract
Several governments and citizens embrace information systems that are designed to enable transparency of public expenses and discourage corruption in the public sector. The objective of this paper is to examine the capacity and value of information systems designed to enhance transparency, from a citizens’/users’ perspective. Our purpose is to address research questions associated with the actual impact of transparency-enabling systems and openness on citizens’ trust, as well as on uncertainty towards governmental policies and actions. We also explored the impact of privacy requirements and personal data protection regulations on the system and citizens’ willingness to access public data. To the best of our knowledge, these are largely unexplored issues in the related literature. Our study involves the design of a web survey and the execution of an empirical study with citizens who have used such a system in Greece. In particular, we focused on the Greek system ‘Diavgeia’, which is the national transparency and anti-corruption system.
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Appendices
Appendix I: Demographics
Appendix II: The Survey Instrument
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1.
Is openness a prerequisite for your satisfaction with the authorities?
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2.
Is it a citizen’s right to have access to every kind of data of public interest?
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3.
Are you confident that you know what kinds of functions are provided in ‘Diavgeia’?
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4.
Are you familiar with how ‘Diavgeia’ could be useful to a potential user?
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5.
Are you aware of ‘Diavgeia’’s legal status?
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6.
Are you confident that ‘Diavgeia’ is a reliable source of information and legal facts?
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7.
Have you ever used ‘Diavgeia’?
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8.
Do you feel capable of assessing ‘Diavgeia’’s data and drawing conclusions about political/administrative actions?
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9.
Should the citizens’ capability of evaluating public data determine the degree of openness and transparency?
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10.
Has the government become more accessible after ‘Diavgeia’’s enactment as a law?
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11.
Are the authorities more accountable because of the data that are accessible through ‘Diavgeia’?
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12.
Would you agree with the view that ‘Diavgeia’ could potentially eliminate maladministration in the public sector?
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13.
Does ‘Diavgeia’ have an effect on extensive and high public spending?
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14.
Does ‘Diavgeia’ impact on irrational public spending?
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Do you believe that ‘Diavgeia’ prevents corruption?
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Is corruption in the public sector mitigated because of ‘Diavgeia’?
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17.
Do you trust the central government more than before the launching of ‘Diavgeia’?
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Is your local government more trustworthy after ‘Diavgeia’’s launching?
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Do you believe that the relevance and benefits of ‘Diavgeia’ depend on citizens’ participation and frequency of access?
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Would you trust third parties (experts or media professionals) to evaluate open public data of political/legal interest?
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21.
Could Media or NGOs adequately replace citizens in assessing open public data?
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Does the usage frequency of ‘Diavgeia’ rely on users’ ease with its way of working?
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23.
Would you say that ‘Diavgeia’’s functionality impacts on citizens’ interest in using it?
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24.
Do you believe that ‘Diavgeia’’s framework improves the government-citizens relationship?
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25.
Could ‘Diavgeia’’s structure and user-friendliness affect the user’s opinion of its importance?
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26.
Have citizens obtained more control due to the enactment of ‘Diavgeia’?
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27.
In your opinion, does the government pay attention to ‘Diavgeia’?
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Do you think that ‘Diavgeia’’s data could improve your attitude towards a government?
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Would you claim that a legally and politically stronger ‘Diavgeia’ could potentially eliminate corruption?
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30.
Would a more inclusive and strict ‘Diavgeia’ boost government’s trustworthiness?
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Does ‘Diavgeia’ make you feel empowered?
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Do you think that citizens have a say in what government does?
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Would you agree with the view that public officials care about your thoughts?
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34.
Does it matter, in your opinion, that private data of every kind of public employees/servants can be found online?
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Would you consider yourself familiar with the risks of publishing personal information online?
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36.
Would you accept the override of individual privacy rights of all kinds of public servants in the interest of ‘the citizen’s right to know’?
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Would the weakening of a public servant’s privacy make you trust him more?
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38.
Is openness a catalyst for your confidence in the central and local government?
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Gritzalis, A., Tsohou, A., Lambrinoudakis, C. (2017). Transparency-Enabling Systems for Open Governance: Their Impact on Citizens’ Trust and the Role of Information Privacy. In: Katsikas, S., Zorkadis, V. (eds) E-Democracy – Privacy-Preserving, Secure, Intelligent E-Government Services. e-Democracy 2017. Communications in Computer and Information Science, vol 792. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-71117-1_4
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