Transparency of public management is fundamental to bringing citizens closer to public managers and as such universally considered an element of good governance. The main aim of this study is to identify the factors determining transparency in public management of Portuguese local authorities. Using the Municipal Transparency Index of 2013 and 2014, socio-demographic, political and economic-financial variables are studied for the population of 308 Portuguese local authorities by the means of testing the previously formulated research hypotheses in the light of the agency theory. The results show that transparency in public management of Portuguese local authorities is determined by their size, the number of individuals aged between 15 and 74 who use the internet, unemployment rate, financial autonomy and the net debt.
Transparency of public management is fundamental to bringing citizens closer to public managers and as such universally considered an element of good governance. The main aim of this study is to identify the factors determining transparency in public management of Portuguese local authorities. Using the Municipal Transparency Index of 2013 and 2014, socio-demographic, political and economic-financial variables are studied for the population of 308 Portuguese local authorities by the means of testing the previously formulated research hypotheses in the light of the agency theory. The results show that transparency in public management of Portuguese local authorities is determined by their size, the number of individuals aged between 15 and 74 who use the internet, unemployment rate, financial autonomy and the net debt. ; The article is processed as an output of a research project by UNIAG, I&D unit supported by FCT - Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology and the Portuguese Ministry of Education and Science (UID/GES/04752/2016) and Research Center in Political Science (UID/CPO/0758/2013) registered by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology and the Portuguese Ministry of Education and Science through national funds. ; info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
Transparency of public management is fundamental in bringing citizens closer to public managers, with this being considered universally as an element of good governance. The main aim of this study is to identify the factors determining transparency in public management of Portuguese local authorities. Using the Municipal Transparency Index of 2013 and 2014, socio-demographic, political and economicfinancial variables are studied for the universe of 308 Portuguese local authorities, by testing the previously formulated research hypotheses in the light of agency theory. The results show that transparency in public management of Portuguese local authorities is determined by size, the number of individuals aged between 15 and 74 who use the internet, unemployment rate, financial autonomy and net debt. ; info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
Transparency is universally regarded as an element of good governance. The new form of activity of local governments, including the accountability of these voters/taxpayers, medium, control bodies and other interested parties to monitor the activities of governments emphasize the attention given to transparency and its determinants. The economic, social and financial context that local governments are subject requires them to be as transparent as possible in order to create greater involvement of citizens in the affairs of political and simultaneously promote greater accountability of the local voters to those same citizens. However, transparency levels are often below the standards required for public or government agencies. Particularly, at the local level, the transparency practices may vary substantially from one local government to another. Despite recent efforts, the current empirical research does not provide definitive answers yet about the reasons for the fluctuations in the levels of transparency. The main objective of this study was to identify the determinants of transparency in Portuguese municipalities. Using the Municipal Transparency Index of years 2013 and 2014 we tried to study the socio-demographic variables, political and economic-financial to the universe of 308 Portuguese municipalities, through the test the research hypotheses previously formulated in the light of agency theory. Statistical results indicate that the size, individuals with age between 15 and 74 years old use the internet, education level, aging index, unemployment rate, financial autonomy and net debt are determinants of transparency in Portuguese municipalities. There was no empirical evidence for the political variables, e.g., form of government, political ideology and political/electoral participation.
