Provision and usage of open government data: strategic transformation paths
| Pages | 1841-1858 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/IMDS-04-2019-0218 |
| Date | 09 September 2019 |
| Published date | 09 September 2019 |
| Author | Juyeon Ham,Yunmo Koo,Jae-Nam Lee |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management |
Provision and usage of open
government data: strategic
transformation paths
Juyeon Ham
College of Hotel and Tourism Management,
Kyung Hee University, Seoul, Republic of Korea
Yunmo Koo
Barun ICT Research Center,
Yonsei University, Seoul, Republic of Korea, and
Jae-Nam Lee
Korea University Business School, Seoul, Republic of Korea
Abstract
Purpose –To create the expected value and benefits through open data, appropriate provision and usage of
data are required simultaneously. However, the level of provision and usage of open data differs from country
to country. Moreover, previous research on open data has only focused on either open data provision or usage.
To fill the research gap, the purpose of this paper is threefold: first, to understand the current status of the
provision and usage of open data; second, to identify patterns in the provision and usage of open data; and
third, to provide appropriate future directions and guidelines for the transformation paths of each pattern.
Design/methodology/approach –The authors analyzed the data collected from open data portals of 13
countries that provide information on the provision and usage of open data together.
Findings –The authors identified four patterns of the provision and usage of open data, namely,
availability-driven, government-driven, market-driven and interaction-driven patterns. Furthermore, three
strategic paths of transformation reach a high level of open data provision and usage, namely, data provision-
focused, data usage-focused and balanced transformation paths.
Originality/value –This study provides a foundation that enables researchers to build a holistic theory that
can integrate fragmented and incomplete knowledge of open data and usage, particularly in the context of
government.
Keywords Open data, Open government, Open data provision, Open data usage,
Patterns of provision and usage of open data, Strategic transformation path
Paper type Research paper
1. Introduction
The importance of data is gaining recognition around the world. Companies are looking for
new business insightsand opportunities by analyzing thedata accumulated through business
activities across firm boundaries. This trend indicates the increasing value of interoperable
data that are easily accessible and usable by anyone or any system ( Jetzek, 2016). Governments
in many countries are also exerting similar efforts to meet this trend by actively disclosing
government data to the public as “open data”that can be used by the public and private sectors
(Conradie and Choenni, 2014). The benefits of open data range from political and social benefits
(e.g. Gonzalez-Zapata and Heeks, 2015), to economic benefits (e.g. Zeleti et al., 2016) and
operational and technicalbenefits (e.g. Janssen et al., 2012). Given these benefits, an increasing
number of countries have invested massive funds and vari ous resources to establish open data
portals for their government’s data release (Zhao and Fan, 2018). Accordingto a global report, Industrial Management & Data
Systems
Vol. 119 No. 8, 2019
pp. 1841-1858
© Emerald PublishingLimited
0263-5577
DOI 10.1108/IMDS-04-2019-0218
Received 5 April 2019
Revised 23 July 2019
Accepted 5 August 2019
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/0263-5577.htm
This work was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea Grant funded by the Korean
Government (NRF-2014S1A5A2A03064953). This paper is based on the first author’s doctoral dissertation.
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Provision and
usage of open
government
data
the number of countries operating open data portals increased from 77 in 2013 to 115 in 2016
(Davies, 2013; Iglesias and Robinson, 2016).
Although previous research has shown the enormous potential for data-driven value
creation, creating and sustaining sufficient value remain difficult in the context of
governments ( Janssen et al., 2012). The reasons primarily come from the aspects of
provision and usage of open data. First, in terms of open data provision, sufficient data are
not provided or data are not provided in various formats (e.g. xls or pdf) and continuous
updating is not guaranteed (Martin et al., 2013). These factors cause compatibility issues
between open data and other existing data in private and public organizations. Second, in
terms of open data usage, users of open data often have no necessary knowledge regarding
the use of data, resulting in a lack of successful best practices. Having these best practices is
crucial for benchmarking other organizations or users and developing an appropriate open
data strategy in the government level.
To create sufficient value from open data, the appropriate provision and usage of data
are essential. Nevertheless, previous research on open data focused only on few areas. In
particular, there is a considerable difference between the interest in providing and utilizing
open data (Gonzalez-Zapata and Heeks, 2015). Global reports revealed different degrees of
open data readiness, implementation and impact among countries (Iglesias and Robinson,
2016). Furthermore, these reports focused on the provision of open data (Van Schalkwyk
and Verhulst, 2017) but did not explore the role of open data usage in achieving the goals
and benefits of open data. However, the genuine value of open data can be achieved by
providing necessary and sufficient data and, more importantly, utilizing the open data
suitable for the purpose of diverse stakeholders. Therefore, understanding both the
provision and usage of open data is crucial to reaping the benefits of open data and
developing appropriate open data policies in the context of governments (Attard et al., 2015),
which result in enhancing national competitiveness. Nevertheless, existing reports and
studies seem to focus more on providing rather than using open data.
To address this gap, this study considers the provision and usage of open data
simultaneously. In particular, understanding what data are mainly opened and utilized and
how they are widely and specifically opened and utilizedcan provide important directionsfor
establishing open data policies and strategies in the future. In addition, as open data should
allow users to create value through sufficient utilization, providing a sufficient scope (i.e.
breadth) and scale/level (i.e. depth) of data is crucial (Boh et al., 2014). Nonetheless, previous
studies have inconsiderably focused on the breadth and depth of open data provision and
utilization.Thus, from the perspective of the breadthand depth of open data, this study aims
to understand the status of the provision and usage of open data, identify patterns in the
provisionand usage of open data, and provide appropriatefuture directions and guidelinesfor
each pattern. More specifically, this study investigates the following research questions:
RQ1. How are the breadth and depth of open data provision and usage different for
each country?
RQ2. How are the patterns of provision and usage of open data different for each
data category?
Accordingly, we analyzed the data collected from open data portals of 13 countries that
provide information on the provision and usage of open data. Then, we identified four
patterns resulting from the analysis on the provision and usage of open data, which include
availability-driven, government-driven, market-driven and interaction-driven patterns.
Three strategic transformation paths were also developed and suggested to reach a high
level of open data provision and usage, namely, data provision-focused, data usage-focused
and balanced transformation paths. The result of this study can suitably assist
governments in leveraging the promises and benefits of open data provision and usage.
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