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The Importance of Measuring Local Governments’ Information Disclosure: Comparing Transparency Indices in Spain

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  • Juan-Carlos Garrido-Rodríguez

    (Department of Accounting and Finance, University of Granada, 18071 Granada, Spain)

  • Marta Garrido-Montañés

    (Department of Accounting and Finance, University of Granada, 18071 Granada, Spain)

  • Germán López-Pérez

    (Department of Accounting and Finance, University of Granada, 18071 Granada, Spain)

  • Elisabeth Zafra-Gómez

    (Department of Accounting and Finance, University of Granada, 18071 Granada, Spain)

Abstract

Transparency is considered a key element for developing a reliable government; it is the ability that all public entities have to provide access to all their information. The main objective of this work is to test the differences in the transparency of municipalities between the main indices and a new index made following the regulatory advances in this area at the national level. Called BTI, this new index aims to measure in the best possible way the degree of compliance of Spanish municipalities, through two dimensions (depth and breadth), which measure the quality and the quantity of the information. This work makes a comparison of the BTI with three of the main existing transparency indexes in Spain, to a sample of Spanish provincial capitals. The results obtained reveal clear differences between the indices, where three of the four indices analyzed show that most municipalities only fulfil the Transparency Act at the minimum level, with only a few municipalities reaching the maximum rating range. This work concludes that the BTI index is more demanding than the rest of the indexes. However, ITA stands out with a higher average score than the rest, which indicates that transparency portals are designed to obtain a good score in this index, being less objective. Finally, this paper remembers the importance of having an objective tool to measure transparency, as it can show notable differences with respect to reality.

Suggested Citation

  • Juan-Carlos Garrido-Rodríguez & Marta Garrido-Montañés & Germán López-Pérez & Elisabeth Zafra-Gómez, 2022. "The Importance of Measuring Local Governments’ Information Disclosure: Comparing Transparency Indices in Spain," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(20), pages 1-17, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:20:p:13081-:d:940422
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Abdullah Abid Oztoprak & Erna Ruijer, 2016. "Variants of transparency: an analysis of the English Local Government Transparency Code 2015," Local Government Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 42(4), pages 536-556, July.
    2. Raymond Saner & Lichia Yiu & Melanie Nguyen, 2020. "Monitoring the SDGs: Digital and social technologies to ensure citizen participation, inclusiveness and transparency," Development Policy Review, Overseas Development Institute, vol. 38(4), pages 483-500, July.
    3. Hafiez Sofyani & Hosam Alden Riyadh & Heru Fahlevi, 2020. "Improving service quality, accountability and transparency of local government: The intervening role of information technology governance," Cogent Business & Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 7(1), pages 1735690-173, January.
    4. Armenia ANDRONICEANU, 2021. "Transparency In Public Administration As A Challenge For A Good Democratic Governance," REVISTA ADMINISTRATIE SI MANAGEMENT PUBLIC, Faculty of Administration and Public Management, Academy of Economic Studies, Bucharest, Romania, vol. 2021(36), pages 149-164, June.
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