Open Government Data to improve Public Service Quality: an empirical validation through a Structural Equation Model

The thesis focuses on the concept of Open Government Data (OGD) as a new approach to the management of public administrations (Pereira et al., 2017; Wang and Lo, 2016; Zuiderwijk and Janssen, 2014; Attard et al., 2015; Chan, 2013), based on the use of technologies for data treatment capable of favoring the affirmation of logics characterized by transparency, citizens’ involvement and participation in the processes, activities and services of the public sector (Dawes et al., 2016; Gonzalez-Zapata and Heeks, 2015; Ubaldi, 2013; Shadbolt et al., 2012). In particular, the objective of the work is to deepen the aspects and conditions enabling the management of Public Administration (PA) according to the OGD, as well as the impact of this approach on the quality of the public service provided to the community. The choice to carry out this study arises from the consideration according to which in literature, to date, there is no organic nucleus of empirical research aimed at investigating the stimulating factors of the ODG and the concrete effects on the public service quality resulting from the implementation of such an approach in public administrations. The work starts from the analysis of the state of the art dedicated to the methods of conducting public administrations. Specifically, through a chronological excursus, the main approaches to the management of the PA (such as the Bureaucratic Model, New Public Management, New Public Governance, New Public Service, Open Government) were analyzed to represent the paradigmatic evolution leading to the affirmation of the OGD. The most important aspects (constructs) emerging from the analysis of the literature were further investigated to verify the existence of possible relations of influence between them. To this end, for each of the identified constructs, several items were selected for the construction of a questionnaire, administered to a sample of 567 Italian citizens. The results emerged from the answers provided by the citizens allowed defining and testing a Structural Equation Model (SEM), aimed at providing empirical evidences about the facilitating aspects of the OGD and the effects of its adoption within the PA in terms of public service quality for the community. .. [edited by Author]