Using Transparency to Enhance Responsiveness and Trust in Local Government: Can It

Work?
Author(s): Gregory A. Porumbescu
Source: State & Local Government Review , September 2015, Vol. 47, No. 3 (September
2015), pp. 205-213
Published by: Sage Publications, Inc.

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Reviews & Essays

State and Local Government Review

2015, Vol. 47(3) 205-213

Using Transparency to ) The Author(s) 2015

Reprints and permission:

Enhance Responsiveness and

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DOI: 10.1177/0160323X15599427
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Trust in Local Government:
Can It Work?

Gregory A. Porumbescu'

Abstract
Increasingly, local governments view transparency as a means of (re)connecting with a citizenry t
by many accounts, has grown distant. By improving the public's access to government informat
the expectation is that seeds for more responsive and trustworthy local government will be sow
Yet, empirical assessments of the relationship between transparency, responsiveness, and trust
local government have been mixed. Therefore, the intention of this article is to provide an over
of prior research that attempts to conceptually, and empirically, tie transparency to greater
responsiveness and trust in local government. Based upon this review of the literature, implicat
for effective practice are discussed.

Keywords
transparency, local government, trust in government, responsiveness

citizens with information, triggering confusion

Transparency has long been considered a cor
and
nerstone of good governance (Hood 2010). It reductions to functional accountability
can improve decision making (Bok 1989),
(O'Neill 2002; Porumbescu and Im 2015). Oth
ers find that greater exposure to information
impede corruption (Bertot, Jaeger, and Grimes
2010), enhance accountability (Pina, Torres,
pertaining to the inner workings of government
and Royo 2007), and foster a more informed can actually reduce citizens' perceptions of
and understanding citizenry (Cook, Jacobs, public
and sector legitimacy and trustworthiness
(S. Grimmelikhuijsen et al. 2013; De Fine
Kim 2010). When taken together, the varied
benefits of enhanced transparency should Licht
cul 2014). With respect to performance
management, enhanced transparency, when
minate in more responsive and trustworthy
public organizations (Goetz and Jenkins 2001;
Welch, Hinnant, and Moon 2005; Kim and Lee
2012). Therefore, recent attempts by local gov
' Department of Public Administration, Northern Illinois
ernments to enhance transparency have generUniversity, DeKalb, IL, USA
ally been welcomed.
Corresponding Author:
Yet, many are now challenging this long
Gregory A. Porumbescu, Department of Public Adminis
standing understanding of the effects that
tration, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, IL 601 IS,
accompany enhanced transparency. Some cau
USA.

tion that enhanced transparency can overload

Email: gporumbescu@niu.edu

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 206 Stole and Local Government Review 47(3)
complemented by attemptsestablishing
to bolster
more responsive
mance evaluation, has been
local found
government, to
are discussed.
detract from performance by incentivizing
"minimum compliance rather than com
mitted enthusiasm" of public employees
(Norman 2001, 83; Prat 2005). While this
developing stream of research does not
necessarily argue against greater transpar
ency, it does highlight the need to better
understand implications of attempts to
increase transparency.
Due to citizens' close proximity to local
governments, as well as a rapid increase in
attempts to enhance transparency at this level,
this area of government is a particularly inter
esting context to assess the effects of attempts
to enhance transparency. Accordingly, a large
number of studies have attempted to offer
insight into how public disclosure influences
the way local governments function. While
valuable, the breadth of findings makes distil
ling key themes and implications for effective
practice challenging.
This article synthesizes the various perspec
tives on transparency and also provides an
overview of the implications of local govern
ments' attempts to enhance transparency. To
this end, two broad questions guide this article:
1. How can transparency be used to promote
more responsive performance by local
governments? and
2. How can transparency be used to promote
greater citizen trust in local government?
Emphasis is placed upon responsiveness and
trust in government in particular, as these are
often outcomes of primary interest for reforms
intending to enhance transparency (S. G. Grim
melikhuijsen 2012).
This review proceeds as follows. First, an
overview is provided of research that discusses
what transparency is and the different ways
transparency can promote more responsive and
trustworthy local government. Following this,
the role of transparency as a tool in promoting
more responsive and trustworthy local govern
ment is reevaluated and implications for more
effective use of transparency, as a tool for
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perfor
and trustworthy
actually
Defining Transparency: What
Does It Entail?
Transparency refers to the extent external
stakeholders are afforded regular access to
information about the way their public orga
nizations operate (Meijer 2013). Through dis
closure of government information, a key
objective of enhanced transparency is to
improve the public's understanding of what
their government is doing and why. As will
be explained, this improved understanding of
government is thought to engender greater trust
in government and more responsive public
organizations (S. Grimmelikhuijsen et al.
2013; Porumbescu and Im 2015).
In order to enable the public to accurately
understand what their government is doing,
information that is publicly disclosed must be
comprehensive in the sense that it touches upon
the issues necessary to understand the actions
taken by the government. There are several fra
meworks that have been developed to provide a
more systematic understanding of the types of
information necessary to enhance "government
transparency." Two examples of such frame
works are outlined below.
The first framework divides local govern
ment transparency into four dimensions (Cucci
niello and Nasi 2014). The first institutional
dimension focuses upon disclosure of informa
tion pertaining to the activities of public organi
zations. The second political dimension refers
to information pertaining to political represen
tatives, such as their salary or their attendance
in town hall meetings. The third dimension
relates to financial management and outlines
how public actors make use of the financial
resources they are allocated. The fourth dimen
sion of transparency, service delivery, outlines
how local government performs in its delivery
of public services. Accordingly, disclosure of
information pertaining to each of these dimen
sions is critical to affording citizens a compre
hensive understanding of how each component
of their local government functions.
 Porumbescu 207

The second fr
the second claim is that enhanced transparency
ency engenders local
of greater trust in local government.
go
sequential
While transparency is thoughtcom to result in an
Grimmelikhui
assortment of benefits to local government, this
nent, decision-m
review focuses upon responsiveness and trust in
citizens' access to information about discus government in particular as these claims tend to
be among the widely most discussed in the
sions leading up to the adoption of a particular
policy—who were the actors involved in the local government literature.
process and what points were considered in
the decision to adopt a particular course of
action? The second dimension, policy transClaim I: Transparency Promotes
parency, outlines how an adopted policy
More Responsive Local
intends to address a particular social issue as
Government
well as anticipated effects on different seg
ments of the population. The third and final Accountability plays an important role in link
dimension is policy outcome transparency, ing transparency to more responsive local gov
which addresses the provision of information ernment. By affording greater public access to
to the public that details the actual effects government
of information, external stakeholders
a particular policy. Taken together, these
are empowered to align the performance of
three dimensions, like those proposed by Cuc their local government more closely with their
ciniello and Nasi, are intended to provide the
own preferences. Therefore, from this perspec
public a comprehensive understanding of tive, a central objective of transparency policy
what the government is doing, how the govis mainly one of empowerment. Moreover, as
ernment is doing it, and why. discussed earlier, achieving this objective is
As both frameworks illustrate, enhancingcontingent upon the disclosure of various forms
transparency of local government means much of government information.
more than the mere provision of "more infor For enhanced transparency to actually
mation to more people" (Welch, Hinnant, and empower citizens, it must be both accessed by
Moon 2005, 375). Rather, the informationand intelligible to the general public. Prior
needed to enhance local government transpar research, however, finds this to be a challenge.
For example, Cook, Jacobs, and Kim (2010)
ency is diverse. In large part, this is due to the
broad spectrum of obligations local govern reason that motivation among citizens to obtain
ments are responsible for. As such, without government information will vary according to
access to such comprehensive information, the the subject area—retirees are more likely to be
public will be unable to accurately understand more motivated to obtain information about
and evaluate the actions of their government. changes to social security than recent college
For example, exposure to information on policy graduates. Etzioni (2010) argues that not all cit
outcomes (policy outcome transparency) may izens possess the same cognitive capacity—
help the public obtain a better understanding some will be able to make more effective use
of the effects of a particular policy. Yet, with
of the information transparency affords them
out exposure to information that discusses thethan others. Taken together, two key challenges
can be identified when attempting to link
intended effects of said policy (policy transpar
ency), it is impossible for the public to accugreater transparency to greater responsiveness
rately gauge performance. in local government. The first challenge is to
In the sections that follow, two claims that
effectively disseminate the types of informa
frequently accompany decisions to enhance tion necessary to empower the public, whereas
transparency are assessed. The first claimthe
is second challenge is to ensure that access to
that enhanced transparency promotes greater
such information empowers all segments of the
responsiveness of local governments, whereas
population equally.

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 208 State and Local Government Review 47(3)

Empirical assessments of the

information in thatutility
they tended to ofbe willing
transparency in promoting
to enhance more
transparencyresponsive
related to some areas,
local government also while
bring
avoiding to light
greater some
transparency in others.
additional challenges in For
linking
example, governments
greater maytrans
be more forth
parency to a more responsive local
coming with information govern
about public services
ment. To highlight these challenges,
but provide less information on three
the political
dimension.
examples are discussed. Each example was
chosen for the reason it extends the discussion
A third example examines the nexus of
in the preceding paragraph by providing more transparency, accountability, and responsive
applied perspectives on the relationship ness through a lens of influenza pandemic
between transparency, accountability, and planning by local governments across the
responsiveness. United States (French 2011). As the author
First, a recent study by Im, Porumbescu, and explains, from an administrative perspective,
Lee (2013) examined the Seoul Metropolitan meaningful pandemic planning requires a
Government's widely used nonemergency call dynamic exchange of information between
center (Dasan Call Center), which was tasked various segments of the population and the
with enhancing the transparency, accountabil local government responsible for their safety.
ity, and responsiveness of the Seoul Metropol Yet, of the fifty cities surveyed, only twenty
itan Government. Their analysis indicated that, eight had "a pandemic influenza plan that is
while the Dasan Call Center improved citizens' available for public review, either online or
access to information about the Seoul Metro by request" (p. 261). In fact, as French finds,
politan Government, critical responses to thisinfluenza planning in most municipalities
information on the part of citizens were often appears to constitute a very closed activity.
addressed selectively. Specifically, the mayor,As such, despite the clear benefits of
whose purview the operation fell under, wouldenhanced transparency and responsiveness in
typically only respond to citizens' attempts tothis particular policy domain, there is a
marked tendency among many municipal
hold their government accountable when he
thought doing so would give him a leg up on governments in the United States to eschew
a political rival. In this sense, while overall
greater transparency and limit opportunities
government transparency was increased by the for public input.
Dasan Call Center, the links to accountability When taken together, what these examples
and responsiveness were only present when the illustrate is that transparency, on its own, is
Mayor deemed them politically expedient. insufficient for stimulating greater administra
A second study, by Pina, Torres, and Royotive accountability and responsiveness in local
(2007), examines how local governments in fif government. Rather, attempts to enhance trans
teen European Union member states made useparency must be complemented by the estab
of e-government websites to enhance levels of lishment formal channels through which the
transparency, accountability, and responsive public can consistently act upon the informa
ness to citizens. In general, their findings aretion they are afforded. Yet, in practice, such
similar to those in Seoul—local governments, opportunities are seldom provided. As a final
across the fifteen nations, tended to make activepoint, while the examples discussed here
use of websites to afford citizens access to govaddress the relationship between transparency
ernment information. Yet, while citizens' and responsiveness at a single level of govern
access to information increased, the websitesment, and within specific administrative con
texts, further evidence suggests that the trends
typically had little bearing upon accountability
in these local governments, as the websites identified here are pervasive in that they are
typically lacked an interactive component. found across different national contexts and
levels of government (Wong and Welch 2004;
Another notable finding here is that govern
Fox 2007; Piotrowski et al. 2009; Eom 2014).
ments were selective in their disclosure of

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 Porumbescu 209

Claim 2:
Yet, despite Tra
claims that greater transparency
Trust in Local Government can enhance levels of trust in government, evi
dence suggests the relationship between these
In addition to enhancing responsiveness,twotrans
constructs is far more complex. To illus
parency is argued to promote public trusttrateinsome of the contours of this relationship
government. This is because transparency can transparency and trust in local govern
between
be used to correct misperceptions of govern
ment in an applied context, an overview of
ment performance that result from a lack of from prior literature drawn from dis
findings
information. Specifically, citizens oftentinct
lackadministrative contexts is provided.
objective information about what their govern
Worthy (2013) has examined the relation
ment does for them, or how well their govern
ship between transparency and trust in local
ment is performing, and as a result are overly
government in the United Kingdom. In his
critical of the performance of their local gov an interesting dynamic to the relation
analysis,
ernment (Kelly 2002; Mettler 2011 ; Im, Porum
ship between transparency and trust in local
bescu, and Lee 2013). government is uncovered, in that the medium
Kelly and Swindell (2002) outline two through which citizens access government
forms of errors citizens make when eval
information appears to bear heavily upon their
uating local government that occur when
decision to trust government. As Worthy
citizens lack information about their govern explains, in many instances, citizens' exposure
ment. The first is an error in attribution that
to government information came through their
occurs when citizens are not aware of who is
use of mass media outlets, which often obtain
responsible for the delivery of a particularinformation from local governments via free
public service (p. 612). For example, citi dom of information requests. The author
zens may believe that a private or nonprofit observed that the effects of this mediated form
organization is responsible for the operation of transparency would typically vary according
of a local public health clinic. The second isto whether the coverage portrayed government
an error in assessment, where citizens' eva
in a positive or negative light. As such, in this
luations of a service contradict data afforded
instance, no consistent link was uncovered lead
by objective performance indicators. For ing Worthy to conclude that transparency pos
example, citizens may perceive water pro sessed "no general impact on trust" (p. 406).
vided by a local water sanitation facility as In contrast to Worthy's findings, research by
less potable than bottled water provided by Tolbert and Mossberger (2006) offers a differ
a private manufacturer, despite scientific ent perspective on the relationship between
evidence to the contrary. transparency and citizens' trust in local govern
Errors in attribution and errors in assess
ments in the United States. Specifically, this
ment, and the absence of information that
article did not offer direct evidence of a posi
causes them, can lead to a situation where the
tive relationship between transparency and trust
public perceives government as not doing in local government. However, the authors did
enough to promote citizens' well-being. Some find evidence of a strong relationship between
argue that enhancing transparency can reduce citizens' use of e-government, their perceptions
errors of attribution and assessment by expos of local government responsiveness, and their
ing the public to information that clarifies levels of trust in the local government. These
how local government is contributing to the findings are interpreted to suggest that the
public's well-being, and to what effect (Buell information afforded to citizens via local gov
and Norton 2013). By allowing citizens to ernment's websites may clarify the role their
understand more clearly how the actions of government plays in responding to public needs
local government are contributing to the pub and improving the quality of life, which in turn
lic's well-being, transparency is reasoned to bolsters levels of trust in local government
promote greater trust in government.
(p. 366). To this end, the results of this study

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 210 Stote and Local Government Review 47(3)

can be interpreted to offer a degree

observes of transparency
that "mostly, supportis one of
for those arguing that transparency's primary
those banal ideas ... that are taken as unexcep
tionable in discussions
contribution to trust in government stems of governance
from and pub
its ability to demonstrate lic
the various
management." ways
To this the
end, even if attempts
public sector is contributing
to enhance to the public's
transparency fall short of achieving
well-being. objectives such as improving the responsive
As a final example, research by S. Grimme ness of, or enhancing public trust in local gov
likhuijsen et al. (2013) sought to examine ernment, they can still be construed as
whether national culture had any bearing on the successful, as long it can be demonstrated that
relationship between transparency and trust in public access to some form of government
government. Through the use of a series of information expanded. In this way, transpar
experiments, the authors assessed how decision ency in local government has traditionally been
making, policy, and policy outcome transpar viewed as more of an administrative value that
ency related to citizens' perceptions of public undergirds good governance, than a public ser
sector trustworthiness in South Korean central vice in itself (cf. Piotrowski 2014). However,
government and Dutch local governments. with developments in information and commu
They found that the relationship between the nication technology and, consequently, the
different forms of transparency and citizens' increased ease with which local governments
perceptions of public sector trustworthiness, can now publicly disclose information, current
in both contexts, generally lacked a positive discourse suggests that the way we conceive of
relationship to perceptions of trustworthiness. transparency has evolved subtly, yet conspicu
Moreover, when policy outcome transparency ously, over the course of the past decades to
conveyed information pertaining to policy out embody characteristics and concerns typically
comes that were negative (a policy fell short of attributed to public services.
achieving its stated objectives), a slight nega What has become apparent in the course of
tive effect upon trust in government was uncov this article is that local governments are begin
ered, with the magnitude of the effect slightly ning to pay more attention to issues related to
higher in South Korea. From these findings, the the implementation of and outcomes associ
authors conclude that in general, transparency ated with transparency. In this respect, dis
lacks an impact upon trust in the government, course on local government transparency is
unless the information disseminated is nega now shifting toward concerns related to effec
tive, in which case trust in the government may tive practice with regard to information provi
be negatively impacted. sion (Asgarkhani 2005; Bertot, Jaeger, and
These three studies were selected in order to Grimes 2010; Porumbescu and Im 2015;
illustrate different shapes the relationship Cucciniello et al. 2014). As such, based upon
between transparency and trust in government the literature previously discussed, two impli
can take in an applied setting. A common cations for effective practice are outlined.
theme found in each of these studies is that First, as the way transparency is conceived
transparency lacks a consistent relationship toof increasingly incorporates aspects of a public
trust in government—in some instances, trans service, greater attention will have to be paid to
parency can reduce levels of trust in governconsiderations that relate to the supply and
ment, but seldom does transparency, on itsdemand for government information—is the
own, result in greater trust in government. government supplying citizens with the types
of information they demand? As discussed
earlier, the general concept of local govern
Implications for Practice: The Evolving
ment transparency incorporates a host of dis
Ethos of Local Government Transparency? tinct forms of information pertaining to
Hood (2007, 192), who has written extensively actions taken by local government. However,
on the topic of public sector transparency, the types of information publicly disclosed

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 Porumbescu 211

by local govern
cultivates with different civil society organiza
with various
tions in the community it serves. This is largelyleg
rily lead because of civil societyto inc
organization's ability to
ment informa
operate as an intermediary that effectively
relevant (Cucciniello et al. 2014). Rather, communicates the relevance of government
merely adhering to legal obligations for dis information to different segments of the com
closure is, in itself, unlikely to be sufficient for munity. Taken together, a key implication for
obtaining goals of engendering greater respon practice to be drawn is that effective, efficient,
siveness and trust in local government. As and equitable delivery of government informa
such, efforts to enhance public disclosure must tion necessitates the careful cultivation of a net
be supplemented by attempts to ensure that the work of third party actors (e.g., universities or
transparency policies of local governments nonprofits), who are viewed as credible by both
disclose the types of information that the pub citizens and local government. Through estab
lic deems relevant, so as to improve the lishing such a network of credible intermedi
chances of the general public accessing and aries to disseminate government information,
using the information afforded to them. It is it is possible for local governments to capitalize
only by ensuring the general public accesses upon the ability of these organizations to effec
government information that we can then hope tively communicate the relevance of informa
to see greater responsiveness and trust in local tion pertaining to their local government to
government. different segments of the community, while at
Second, as discussed earlier, there is a ten the same time creating the potential for citizens
dency for transparency to fall short of enhan to evaluate information more objectively.
cing accountability and trust in government.
What this suggests is that, because the informa Declaration of Conflicting Interests
tion being supplied by government is perceived The authors) declared no potential conflicts of inter
as lacking immediate relevance to the general est with respect to the research, authorship, and/or
public it is underused and, therefore, fails to publication of this article.
fulfill objectives of enhancing trust in govern
ment and local government responsiveness. Funding
To some, the lack of consistent empirical evi The author(s) received no financial support for the
dence has led to doubts over the utility of trans research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
parency in achieving such objectives. To
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Author Biography
ernment. Public Administration Review 66: Gregory A. Porumbescu is an assistant professo
354 -69. and received his PhD from the Graduate School
of Public Administration at Seoul National Univer
Welch, E. W„ C. C. Hinnant, and M. J. Moon. 2005.
sity in 2013. His research interests primarily relate
Linking citizen satisfaction with e-government
and trust in government. Journal of Publicto public sector applications of information and
communications technology, transparency and
Administration Research and Theory 15:371-91.
accountability, and citizens' perceptions of public
Wong, W., and E. Welch. 2004. Does e-government
service provision. His work has appeared in or
promote accountability? A comparative analysis
is forthcoming in The Journal of Public Adminis
of website openness and government accounttration Research and Theory, Public Administra
ability. Governance 17:275-97. tion Review, Administration & Society, Policy &
Worthy, B. 2013. "Some are more open than Internet, and Public Performance and Manage
ment Review.
others": Comparing the impact of the Freedom

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