Diffusion of Data-Driven Practices: How the Opinion Leading U.S. Cities are Advancing the use of Data in Local Government

• Author: Jennifer Park,Lisa Mae Fiedler,Ruth Puttick
• DOI: 10.1177/0160323X221088017
• Published date: 01 March 2022
• Date: 01 March 2022
• Subject Matter: Research Articles

Diffusion of Data-Driven

Practices: How the Opinion

Leading U.S. Cities are

Advancing the use of Data

in Local Government

Ruth Puttick

1

, Lisa Mae Fiedler

2

,

and Jennifer Park

3

Abstract

Understanding why cities are leaders in data-driven local government can help diffuse best practices

to support better decision-making and improve government services. This study surveyed US local

government professionals and generated a new practitioner-led definition of data-driven local gov-

ernment and it identified the opinion leader cities viewed as exemplars in their use of data. To our

knowledge, this study is the first practitioner-generated definition of data-driven local government

and the first depiction of a local government network of data-driven efforts.

Keywords

diffusion of innovation, local government, survey, network analysis, data-driven government

Introduction

Governments are increasingly utilizing data

(Luthfiand Janssen 2019; Matheus and

Maheshwari 2020). The use of data involves

opening data to increase resident engagement

in the decision-making process and leveraging

data and evidence to solve problems. The

expectation is that data utilization will result

in better and more trusted government

decisions (Luthfiand Janssen 2019), helping

improve efficiency, safety, wealth generation,

and resource management (Castelnovo and

Sorrentino 2021).

A recent report published by the Monitor

Institute by Deloitte found more than 250

municipal governments across the United

States are using data to tackle local challenges,

they are putting in place a data infrastructure,

and improving data skills. The Deloitte research

found the use of data is present in cities across

all United States regions, across all types of

government, and in the largest cities, as well

as those cities with fewer than 100,000 residents

(Deloitte 2021, 2–4).

1

Politics Department, School of Geography, Politics, and

Sociology, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne,

England

2

Metropolitan Transportation Authority, MTA New York

City Transit, New York, NY

3

Results for America, Washington, DC

Corresponding Author:

Ruth Puttick, Politics Department, School of Geography,

Politics, and Sociology, Newcastle University, Newcastle

upon Tyne, England, NE1 7RU.

Email: ruth@ruthputtick.com

Research Article

State and Local Government Review

2022, Vol. 54(1) 52-67

© The Author(s) 2022

Article reuse guidelines:

sagepub.com/journals-permissions

DOI: 10.1177/0160323X221088017

journals.sagepub.com/home/slg

Numerous organizations have emerged to

support data efforts in government. Some of

these initiatives are philanthropically funded and

led, such as Bloomberg Philanthropies’What

Works Cities program, whilst others are in aca-

demic institutions, such as The Governance Lab

at New York Uni versity.

Despite this activity, there is both a lack of

definition for data-driven local government

and research that examines how municipalities

and cities learn about innovative data tech-

niques from each other. Drawing on a survey

that explores data-driven practices of US

cities, this study complements existing knowl-

edge to develop a new definition of data-driven

local government. We discuss the diversity of

ideas that local governments put forth to

define data-driven local government and iden-

tify the common elements to show how the con-

ceptualization of data-driven local government

amongst government officials differs from the

existing academic research.

We have found that there is a divergence

between local government practitioners’con-

ceptualization of data-driven local government

and academic debates. Rather than contextual-

izing data-driven local government within the

sphere of computing, algorithms, and machine

learning, local government officials take a

broader perspective of what data is and how it

can be applied to achieve meaningful outcomes.

This means that data can be both qualitative and

quantitative and encompass a range of research

methods. Rather than being the domain of spe-

cific government departments, such as analyti-

cal or IT units, practitioners state that the

application of data is relevant to all levels and

areas of government. The stated outcome of

these efforts is to create a better, more effective,

and equitable, form of local government.

Drawing upon the local practitioner defini-

tions provided in the survey, we define data-

driven local government as:

The administration of a city, town or other munic-

ipal government that provides effective and

impactful services that better serves residents by

strengthening transparency and engaging resi-

dents to collect, analyze, and use qualitative and

quantitative data to define goals, track and evalu-

ate performance, identify and solve problems, and

support decision-making.

The practitioner-generated definition underpins

the importance of leveraging data to improve

effective, equitable, and impactful services for

residents.

Furthermore, we identify a group of cities –

the opinion leaders - across the U.S. that have

emerged as trusted sources of best practice

and ideas, helping other local governments to

emulate and adopt data-driven methods and

approaches.

Creating a shared definition, establishing

interconnections between actors in municipal

governments, and distinguishing the role of

opinion leaders, will help to increase under-

standing of data-driven local government.

Furthermore, identifying the local opinion

leaders contributes to the diffusion of innova-

tion (DOI) literature, and helps to understand

how data-driven practices spread. This study

makes an important contribution to public

sector innovation and management debates

and will aid future scholarly work in the field

to understand the influence and impacts of

new data-driven technologies and approaches

in both city and municipal governments. In

addition, this research is relevant to non-

municipal organizations across academic, phi-

lanthropy, and elsewhere, that seek to support

government innovation and reform, and who

could leverage the opinion leaders to help accel-

erate the spread of effective data-driven prac-

tices across the United States.

This study begins by reviewing the theoreti-

cal and empirical research, with a particular

focus on the academic discussion about data-

driven local government, including the current

lack of a concrete definition. It also explores

the diffusion of innovation theory literature to

explain adoption and the role of opinion

leaders. We describe our methodological

approach and detail our survey with cities. We

then discuss our findings, propose a definition

for the phrase data-driven local government,

and explore why the opinion leading cities are

looked to as exemplars in their use of data.

Puttick et al. 53