Motivators and facilitators of relationships in networks: how public managers acknowledge these factors in open government data

Abstract

Open Government Data (DGA) aim at the provision of data from public institutions on the Internet, so that these
can be reusable by third parties. These initiatives aim to meet new demands of society for increased transparency,
greater involvement in the management of public resources, greater control and quality of public services, and
increased accountability among public officials. Thus, they assume a wide participation and collaboration between
government and society, constituting a network between these two spheres. In light of the theory of interorganizational
networks, this article aims to understand what the motivational factors and facilitators present in
open government data initiatives are. In order to meet this goal, we adopted a qualitative methodological strategy
through structured interviews, to understand, from the perspective of the DGA public managers project, the main
motivators and facilitating factors present in these initiatives. The results of the research demonstrate that the
main motivating factors of DGA projects are: (I) reciprocity, (II) efficiency, (III) legitimacy. In complementation,
aspects related to (I) power, (II) reputation, (III) exchange of information, and (IV) specific assets are considered as
facilitators of DGA in the perspective of public managers. These results allow for a better comprehension of the
relationship between government and society.