The Politics of Open Government Data: Understanding Organizational Responses to Pressure for More Transparency

• Published date: 01 April 2020
• Date: 01 April 2020
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/0275074019888065
• Subject Matter: Articles

https://doi.org/10.1177/0275074019888065

American Review of Public Administration

2020, Vol. 50(3) 260 –274

© The Author(s) 2019

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DOI: 10.1177/0275074019888065

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Article

Introduction

Public organizations around the world have increasingly

released datasets as Open Government Data (OGD; Attard,

Orlandi, Scerri, & Auer, 2015). OGD are non-privacy-

restricted and non-confidential data, produced with public

money and made available without any restrictions on

their usage or distribution (M. Janssen, Charalabidis, &

Zuiderwijk, 2012). OGD are expected to strengthen trans-

parency and democratic processes, to stimulate economic

growth and innovation, and to lead to more effective pub-

lic services and programs (Borzacchiello & Craglia, 2012;

Gonzalez-Zapata & Heeks, 2015; Margetts, 2014; Peled,

2011; Ruijer, Grimmelikhuijsen, & Meijer, 2017; Worthy,

2015; Zhang, Puron-Cid, & Gil-Garcia, 2015). However,

so far a large share of the potential for society of OGD is

yet to be realized (Attard et al., 2015; Smith & Sandberg,

2018; Worthy, 2015).

Several empirical studies show that resistance by govern-

ment organizations to data-driven transparency is one of the

“barriers” that needs to be dealt with, for OGD to reach its

full potential (Huijboom & Van den Broek, 2011; M. Janssen

et al., 2012; Zuiderwijk, Janssen, Choenni, & Alibaks, 2012).

Leadership, a clear account of the benefits of OGD, and a

change of government culture are indicated as options to

overcome the resistance to release data (Huijboom & Van

den Broek, 2011; M. Janssen et al., 2012; Nam, 2015). These

elements are of great importance, but they ignore a key

aspect of OGD: its strategic nature and the purposive actions

of government organizations resisting the pressure from

external stakeholders to publish their data. This article chal-

lenges the assumption that a lack of willingness to make data

available to the public is an aberration or a type of behavior

that can be changed through culture interventions, by high-

lighting the politics of OGD.

Cleveland (1985, p. 185) points out that in the informa-

tion age, “information (organized data, the raw material

for specialized knowledge and generalist wisdom)” has

become a key strategic resource of organizations. And

exactly for that reason, organizations are not likely to share

it: “When information is the primary unit of organizational

currency, we should not expect its owners to give it away”

(Davenport, Eccles, & Prusak, 1992, p. 54). Davenport

et al. (1992) speak of “information politics” and argue that

888065ARPXXX10.1177/0275074019888065The American Review of Public AdministrationRuijer et al.

research-article2019

1Utrecht University, The Netherlands

2Telecom ParisTech, France

Corresponding Author:

Erna Ruijer, Utrecht University School of Governance, Utrecht University,

Bijlhouwerstraat 6, 3511 ZC Utrecht, The Netherlands.

Email: h.j.m.ruijer@uu.nl

The Politics of Open Government Data:

Understanding Organizational Responses

to Pressure for More Transparency

Erna Ruijer1, Francoise Détienne2, Michael Baker2, Jonathan Groff2,

and Albert J. Meijer1

Abstract

This article contributes to the growing body of literature within public management on open government data by taking

a political perspective. We argue that open government data are a strategic resource of organizations and therefore

organizations are not likely to share it. We develop an analytical framework for studying the politics of open government

data, based on theories of strategic responses to institutional processes, government transparency, and open government

data. The framework shows that there can be different organizational strategic responses to open data—varying from

conformity to active resistance—and that different institutional antecedents influence these responses. The value of the

framework is explored in two cases: a province in the Netherlands and a municipality in France. The cases provide insights

into why governments might release datasets in certain policy domains but not in others thereby producing “strategically

opaque transparency.” The article concludes that the politics of open government data framework helps us understand open

data practices in relation to broader institutional pressures that influence government transparency.

Keywords

Open government data, transparency, organizational strategic responses, politics