Drivers for the proactive online disclosure of information in the NGO sector: the Colombian case
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/OIR-05-2014-0113 |
| Pages | 769-787 |
| Published date | 09 September 2014 |
| Date | 09 September 2014 |
| Author | María del Mar Gálvez-Rodríguez,Carmen Caba-Perez,Manuel López-Godoy |
| Subject Matter | Library & information science,Information behaviour & retrieval |
Drivers for the proactive online
disclosure of information in the
NGO sector: the Colombian case
Marı
´a del Mar G
alvez-Rodrı
´guez, Carmen Caba-Perez and
Manuel L
opez-Godoy
Department of Economics and Business, University of Almeria, Almeria, Spain
Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyze drivers for the proactive disclosure of info rmation
via the web in Colombian non-governmental organizations (NGOs) as a strategy for fostering their
legitimacy and responding to the institutional pressure to which they are subjected.
Design/methodology/approach – The web sites of 196 NGOs from Colombia have been analyzed,
first, via an Online Transparency Index that is consistent with Cronbach acoefficient and later, by
performing a Tobit regression analysis.
Findings – The proactive online disclosure of information in Colombian NGOs is very low. In spite
of the high distrust of the resource management they receive, the financial information is the least
aspect disclosed in their web pages. In addition, the larger NG Os are the entities that most disclose
information via their web site. Likewise, the factors of “internationalization”, “donations”, “community
services” and “dependence on voluntary work” show a positive effect on certain aspects of the online
disclosure of information analyzed.
Practical implications – The lack of web use as a strategy for a proactive disclosure of information
is clearly observed. Therefore, both obligatory and voluntary accountability mechanisms should be
more aware of the need for fostering the benefits of a web site, as being transparent in a proactive
manner will increase trust in this sector.
Originality/value – As the majority of the research papers related to online disclosure are focused on
the corporate and public sector, this study addresses the issue of the NGO sector and particularly aims
to contribute to the scarce literature regarding web use of entities from developing countries.
Keywords Internet, NGO, Colombia, Disclosure, Transparency, Web pages
Paper type Research p aper
Introduction
The population in developing countries, such as in Colombia, have benefited greatly
from the activities of the non-governmental organizations (NGOs) (Cameron and
Curtis-Evans, 2000) and particularly, from their contribution in setting up democracies
and the improvement of social welfare (Appe, 2011; Montoya-London
˜o, 2013). Among
the NGOs from Latin American countries, the Colombian NG O sector is one of the
largest in this region due to its growing economic impact on the national gross
domestic product, and particularly via its contribution in developing employment
opportunities, thus creating a growing wo rkforce (Appe, 2010). These entities perform
a valuable work as they have to deal with a high rate of marginalization and poverty as
well as, other social problems of the country related to crime, violence and the drugs
trade (Dion and Russler, 2008; ElGammal, 2011).
In spite of the work of Colombian NGOs, such as “Transparencia por Colombia”, in
the fight against government corruption in the country, this sector is also under public
scrutiny as the Colombian population believes that corruption is widespread in
other sectors (Pen
˜ailillo, 2012). Along with this prejudice, the recent incidents of
misappropriation of funds and the suspicious relation to political par ties detected in
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
www.emeraldinsight.com/1468-4527.htm
Received 20 May 2014
Second revision approved
28 August 2014
Online Information Review
Vol.38 No.6, 2014
pp. 769-787
rEmeraldGroup Publishing Limited
1468-4527
DOI 10.1108/OIR-05-2014-0113
769
Drivers for the
proactive online
disclosure of
information
NGOs of this region have aggravated their image as agents that serve society
(V
azquez, 2011). Therefore, Colombian NGOs need to implem ent strategies to gain and
repair society’s trust in the sector and ensure the support of their main stakeholders.
There is no doubt that one of the main factors that provoke organizational
corruption is the informative opacity (Lennerf ors, 2007). In this sense, Levine (2005)
and Halter et al. (2009) pointed out that transparency is a strategic tool used to
avoid that an organization’s interests are replaced by individual interests. This term
is defined as the information access about the intentions and behaviours of an
organization (Turilli and Floridi, 2009; Lindstedt and Naurin, 2010). In addition,
Darbishire (2010) states the importance of proactive disclosure of information which
implies the dissemination of information independently of whether or not it has been
previously requested. Within the NGO sector, this proactive disclosure is considered an
act of responsibility that allows excellence in accountability and therefore promotes
credence in the best practices of the organization (Bies, 2010).
Among the different channels of communication available – press, radio, television,
internet, etc. the multiple advantages of web pages are highlighted due to several
benefits like their availability, accessibility and low cost. Today, the web page is one of
the main information sources for NGO stakeholders (Eim hjellen et al., 2014). Hence, the
sector should be transparent in a proactive manner by disclosing information via their
web pages (Ingenhoff and Koelling, 2009; Vaccaro and Madsen, 2009).
On the other hand, Colombian government regulation related to the accountability
of the sector is underdeveloped (Appe, 2011). These entities have to submit to public
authorities, information regarding their accounts and activities annually, however, the
government does not monitor if these entities are accountable to the public they serve
(ICNL, 2014). Although there is a lack of obligato ry accountability mechanisms,
Colombian NGOs are developing voluntary accountability mechanisms, with these
initiatives being considered as pioneers in the voluntary accountability of Latin
American NGOs (Luna and Espinosa, 2011). In this regard, the initiative called Centro
Virtual para la Transparencia y la rendici
on de cuentas de la sociedad civil (Virtual
Centre for Transparency and Accountability in Civil Society) is highlighted. This
initiative has drawn up a self-assessment document to foster not only the transparency
but also, the need for using adequate communication channels suc h as the internet.
It began in Colombia, but due to the great interest of the improvement of best practices
by Latin American NGOs, it has been extended to other countries like Argentina,
Ecuador, Dominican Republic, Peru and Uruguay. Currently, Colombia is one of the
management members of this accountability project and the country with the greatest
number of NGOs registered.
Previous literature has stressed the importance of Latin American NGOs in asp ects
such as democracy (Macdonald, 1994; Brysk, 2000; Smulovitz and Per uzzotti, 2000),
education (Mirabella et al., 2007), as well as in other fields as gender, human rights and
peace (Appe, 2011). Likewise, other studies have emphasized that the internet is
considered a helpful tool for the achievement of their social mission (Everett, 1998;
Montoya-London
˜o, 2013). However, little attention has been paid to the extent to
which Latin American NGOs are using their web pages to cope with stakeholders’
transparency demands (G
alvez et al., 2012a). In this sense, the existing literature is
mainly focused on the web reporting of those NGOs from developed countries such as
the USA (Saxton and Guo, 2011) or European countries (Ingenhoff and Koelling, 2009).
Along with the importance of online transparency, analysis of factors that foster or
lessen the development of NGOs’ web site is needed. In this respect, the majority of the
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