DOI: 10.14457/nida.the.2016.6
title: Proactive transparency and outward accountability in the public sector : the perspective of the frontline public bureaucrats in Bangladesh

description: Transparency laws are argued to bring accountability to organizationalactivities. This dissertation aimed at answering the general research question of howorganizational factors such as organizational culture, structure (discretion), andendowment (resources) affect the proactive transparency behavior and outward(citizen-centered) accountability orientation of the frontline public bureaucrats in thecontext of Bangladesh. Proactive transparency behavior is a tendency to discloseinformation about organizational activities for citizens’ audit without being requestedby anyone. Outward accountability is the attitude of the frontline public bureaucrats interms of being answerable to the citizens. The objective was to develop a conceptualmodel for understanding the proactive transparency behavior and outwardaccountability orientation of the frontline bureaucrats. The study followed a mixedmethods research design consisting of a quantitative survey and in-depth qualitativeinterviews and observations. Survey data were analyzed using standard multipleregression and interview data were analyzed using a basic thematic framework. Theresearch participants were 326 sub-district level frontline public officials that directlydistribute government benefits and sanctions to the citizens.||A conceptual model was developed based on a literature review having fourcultural dimensions, discretion, and resources as the factors influencing proactivetransparency behavior, which, in turn, was assumed to affect outward accountability. Principal component analyses produced ten components leading to modifications ofthe proposed variables. Thus, in the proposed revised model, three culturaldimensions, i.e. “power distance”, “risk avoidance”, and “citizen orientation” werehypothesized to affect “proactive transparency behavior” through the mediating roleof “value for proactive transparency” having “value generic” and “value specific” asthe two dimensions. “Discretion” as organizational structure, and “IT skills” and‘resources’ as the two dimensions of organizational endowment, were alsohypothesized to affect “proactive transparency behavior”. “Proactive transparencybehavior” was hypothesized to have a relationship with “outward accountability”.||The regression findings revealed citizen orientation as an important factor thatsignificantly and positively influences proactive transparency behavior as well asoutward accountability. Value generic and value specific were found to play amediating role between citizen orientation and proactive transparency behavior. ITskills as organizational endowment also were found to significantly and positivelypredict proactive transparency behavior. Risk avoidance was found to significantlyand negatively predict outward accountability. Further, one demographic variable“age” was found to significantly and negatively affect proactive transparencybehavior, and another demographic variable, “experience in current position”, wasfound to be significantly and negatively related to outward accountability. It wasinterpreted that younger frontline bureaucrats take more proactive transparencymeasures and are more willing to be accountable to the citizens than older ones. Theinterview and observation data also support these findings. Moreover, the interviewand observation data also supported the idea that power distance, risk avoidance,discretion, and resources affected the proactive transparency behavior of the frontlinebureaucrats.||This dissertation, therefore, contributes to the understanding of transparencyand accountability literature in highlighting the importance of the organizationalfactors in these issues. Policy makers must address cultural, structural, andendowment issues in the formulation and implementation of transparency laws