Public Managers' Perceptions about Open Government: A Factor Analysis of Concepts and Values

Abstract

Open Government (OG) is pushing towards an important change in terms of how we currently understand public management. Recently, OG has attracted the attention of multiple actors from within the governmental sphere and beyond. However, little is known about how this new paradigm is evolving. For the development of this investigation, we surveyed all Spanish municipalities with more than 50,000 inhabitants and asked about the level of association of selected concepts with OG. We carried out an exploratory factor analysis (EFA) to determine the factors in which the concepts are grouped. This led us to determine the existence of three perspectives from which local governments are developing and implementing OG: a) democratic values of coresponsibility, b) technological innovation, and c) availability and access to information.