The impact of explanatory factors on a bidimensional model of transparency in Spanish local government

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to analyse the transparency provided by local public managers and to determine whether this disclosure is limited to the minimum quantity permissible (in accordance with Agency Theory) or whether a maximum amount of information is supplied (following Legitimacy Theory). To do so, we present a Bidimensional Transparency Index (BTI), developed as an instrument for measuring the provision of information (i.e. e-disclosure), which contains two components, breadth and depth, to reflect the pattern of behaviour observed. The results obtained show that on average local managers disclose information corresponding to 60% of the indicators considered, but that only 52% of these indicators of transparency present a moderate or considerable depth of content. These findings reflect a pattern of limited information disclosure, with incomplete information. In addition, our study shows that explanatory factors have an asymmetric impact on the components of the BTI.