Online Budget Transparency Innovation in Government: A Case Study of the U.S. State Governments

Abstract

Accurate, timely, and useful budget information is critical for government and citizens to make the right budget choices to democratically govern budget operations, and address long-term fiscal challenges. While governments have increasingly adopted the concept of open government data (OGD) for greater government transparency and citizen engagement, the application of the OGD concept to enhancing government budget transparency is understudied. This paper examines online budget transparency innovation in government. First, we develop a normative public value framework for budget transparency. Second, this framework is applied to guide our empirical cross-case analysis of the reported best and worst U.S. state governments regarding the provision of online budget transparency websites. The results of our analysis challenge existing conceptual frameworks for budget transparency, which fail to recognize the important role of citizens in creating greater public value. More research is needed on online budget transparency innovation, with a focus on public value creation.