Hostname: page-component-6bf8c574d5-vmclg Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-02-23T22:54:07.967Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Transparency actually: how transparency affects public perceptions of political decision-making

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 August 2013

Jenny de Fine Licht
Jenny de Fine Licht*
Affiliation:
PhD Student, Department of Political Science, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden
*
*E-mail: Jenny.definelicht@pol.gu.se
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Building on a widely held account of transparency as integral to legitimate and successful governance, this article addresses the question of how transparency in decision-making can influence public perceptions of political decision-making. An original experiment with 1099 participants shows that people who perceive political decision-making to be transparent judge the degree of procedural fairness highly and are more willing to accept the final decision. Perceptions of transparency are, however, largely shaped by transparency cues (e.g. statements provided by external sources) rather than by the degree of actual transparency, and no direct effect of actual transparency can be found on decision acceptance. The implication is that it is difficult to influence people's acceptance of political decisions by means of transparency reforms, as people base their assessments of political decisions largely on considerations other than evalutations of actual decision-making procedures.

Keywords

transparencyprocedural fairnesstrustlegitimacydecision acceptance
Type
Research Article
Information
European Political Science Review , Volume 6 , Issue 2 , May 2014 , pp. 309 - 330
Copyright
Copyright © European Consortium for Political Research 2013 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Althaus, S.L. (1998), ‘Information effects in collective preferences’, American Political Science Review 92(3): 545–558.Google Scholar
Bauhr, M. Grimes, M. (Forthcoming), ‘Indignation or resignation: the implications of transparency for societal accountability’, Governance. First published online March 17; 2013. doi: 10.1111/gove.12033.Google Scholar
Bentham, J., James, M., Blamires, C. Watkin, C.P. (1999), Political Tactics. The Collected Works of Jeremy Bentham, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Calabresi, G. Bobbitt, P. (1978), Tragic Choices, New York: Norton & Company.Google Scholar
Coglianese, C. (2009), ‘The transparency president? The Obama administration and open government’, Governance 22(4): 529–544.Google Scholar
Converse, P.E. (1964), ‘The nature of belief systems in mass public’, in D.E. Apter (ed.), Ideology and Discontent, New York: Free Press, pp. 206–261.Google Scholar
Cook, F.L., Jacobs, L.R. Kim, D. (2010), ‘Trusting what you know: information, knowledge, and confidence in social security’, The Journal of Politics 72(2): 397–412.Google Scholar
Curtin, D. Meijer, A.J. (2006), ‘Does transparency strengthen legitimacy?’, Information Polity 11: 109–122.Google Scholar
Daniels, N. Sabin, J.E. (2008), Setting Limits Fairly: Learning to Share Resources for Health, New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
de Fine Licht, J. (2011), ‘Do we really want to know? The potentially negative effect of transparency in decision making on perceived legitimacy’, Scandinavian Political Studies 34(3): 183–201.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
de Fine Licht, J., Naurin, D., Esaiasson, P. Gilljam, M. (Forthcoming), ‘When does transparency generate legitimacy? experimenting on a context-bound relationship’, Governance. First published online December 30, 2012. doi:10.1111/gove.12021.Google Scholar
Doherty, D. Wolak, J. (2012), ‘When do the ends justify the means? Evaluating procedural fairness’, Political Behavior 34(2): 301–323.Google Scholar
Esaiasson, P. (2010), ‘Will citizens take no for an answer? What government officials can do to enhance decision acceptance’, European Political Science Review 2(3): 351–371.Google Scholar
Esaiasson, P., Gilljam, M., Lindholm, T., Persson, M. (2013), ‘Deciding the fair way or having it my way? A new look at procedural fairness theory in the domain of policy’. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Midwest Political Science Association, 11–14 April 2013, Chicago.Google Scholar
European Union (1992), Declaration on the right of access to information, annexed to the Maastricht Treaty. Retrieved 11 April 2013 from http://eur-lex.europa.eu/en/treaties/dat/11992M/htm/11992M.html#0101000037.Google Scholar
Grimes, M. (2005), Democracy's Infrastructure: The Role of Procedural Fairness in Fostering Consent, Gothenburg: Department of Political Science, University of Gothenburg.Google Scholar
Grimmelikhuijsen, S. (2009), ‘Do transparent government agencies strengthen trust?’, Information Polity 14: 173–186.Google Scholar
Grimmelikhuijsen, S. (2010), ‘Transparency of public decision-making: towards trust in local government?’, Policy & Internet 2: 5–35.Google Scholar
Grimmelikhuijsen, S. (2012), Transparency & Trust: An Experimental Study of Online Disclosure and Trust in Government, Utrecht: Utrecht School of Governance, Utrecht University.Google Scholar
Grimmelikhuijsen, S. Meijer, A.J. (Forthcoming), ‘The effects of transparency on the perceived trustworthiness of a government organization: evidence from an online experiment’, Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory. First published online November 5, 2012. doi: 10.1093/jopart/mus048.Google Scholar
Gutmann, A. Thompson, D.F. (1996), Democracy and Disagreement: Why Moral Conflict Cannot Be Avoided in Politics, and What Should Be Done About It, Cambridge, Massachusetts: Belknap Press.Google Scholar
Heald, D. (2006), ‘Transparency as an instrumental value’, in C. Hood and D. Heald (eds), Transparency: The Key to Better Governance, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 59–73.Google Scholar
Hibbing, J.R. Theiss-Morse, E. (2002), Stealth Democracy: Americans’ Beliefs about How Government Should Work, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Hood, C. (2006), ‘Transparency in historical perspective’, in C. Hood and D. Heald (eds), Transparency: The Key to Better Governance, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 3–23.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Klosko, G. (2000), Democratic Procedures and Liberal Consensus, Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Kuklinski, J.H. Quirk, P.J. (2000), ‘Reconsidering the Rational Public: Cognition, Heuristics, and Mass Opinion’, in A. Lupia, M.D. McCubbins and S.L. Popkin (eds), Elements of Reason: Cognition, Choice, and the Bounds of Rationality, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 153–182.Google Scholar
Leung, K., Tong, K.-K. Lind, E.A. (2007), ‘Realpolitik versus fair process: moderating effects of group identification on acceptance of political decisions’, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 92(3): 476–489.Google Scholar
Lind, E.A. Tyler, T.R. (1988), The Social Psychology of Procedural Justice, New York: Plenum.Google Scholar
Lodge, M., Steenbergen, M.R. Brau, S. (1995), ‘The responsive voter: campaign information and the dynamics of candidate evaluation’, American Political Science Review 89: 309–326.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lupia, A., McCubbins, M. Popkin, S. (2000), ‘Beyond rationality: reason and the study of politics’, in A. Lupia, M.D. McCubbins, and S.L. Popkin (eds), Elements of Reason: Cognition, Choice, and the Bounds of Rationality, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 1–20.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Luskin, R.C., Fishkin, J.S. Jowell, R. (2002), ‘Considered opinions: deliberative polling in Britain’, British Journal of Political Science 32: 455–487.Google Scholar
MacCoun, R.J. (2006), ‘Psychological constraints on transparency in legal and government decision making’, Swiss Political Science Review 12(3): 112–121.Google Scholar
Mansbridge, J. (2009), ‘A “Selection Model” of political representation’, Journal of Political Philosophy 17(4): 369–398.Google Scholar
Martinsson, J., Lindgren, E., Pettersson, L. Åsbrink, R. (2013), Citizen Panel IV, 2012. Technical Report, Gothenburg: Laboratory of Opinion Research, University of Gothenburg.Google Scholar
McGuire, W.J. (1969), ‘The nature of attitudes and attitude change’, in G. Lindzey and E. Aronson (eds), Handbook of Social Psychology, 2nd edn., Reading, MA: Addison Wesley, pp. 136–314.Google Scholar
Meijer, A., Curtin, D. Hillebrandt, A. (2012), ‘Open government: connecting vision and voice’, International Review of Administrative Sciences 78(1): 10–29.Google Scholar
Napier, J.L. Tyler, T.R. (2008), ‘Does moral conviction really override concerns about procedural justice? A reexamination of the value protection model’, Social Justice Research 21(4): 509–528.Google Scholar
OECD (2000), Trust in Government: Ethics Measures in OECD Countries, Paris: Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development. Retrieved 11 April 2013 from http://www.oecd.org/governance/fightingcorruptioninthepublicsector/48994450.pdf.Google Scholar
O'Neill, O. (2006), ‘Transparency and the ethics of communication’, in C. Hood and D. Heald (eds), Transparency: The Key to Better Governance, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 75–90.Google Scholar
Page, B.I. Shapiro, R.Y. (1992), The Rational Public: Fifty Years of Trends in Americans’ Policy Preferences, Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Popkin, S.L. (1991), The Reasoning Voter: Communication and Persuasion in Presidential Campaigns, Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Popkin, S.L. Dimock, M.A. (2000), ‘Knowledge, trust, and international reasoning’, in A. Lupia, M.D. McCubbins and S.L. Popkin (eds), Elements of Reason: Cognition, Choice, and the Bounds of Rationality, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 214–238.Google Scholar
Relly, J.E. Sabharwal, M. (2009), ‘Perceptions of transparency of government policymaking: a cross-national study’, Government Information Quarterly 26(1): 148–157.Google Scholar
Roberts, Al. (2006), ‘Dashed expectations: governmental adaptation to transparency rules’, in C. Hood and D. Heald (eds), Transparency: The Key to Better Governance, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 107–125.Google Scholar
Skitka, L.J. (2002), ‘Do the means always justify the ends, or do the ends sometimes justify the means? A value protection model of justice reasoning’, Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 28(5): 588–597.Google Scholar
Sniderman, P.M., Brody, R.A. Tetlock, P.E. (1993), Reasoning and Choice: Explorations in Political Psychology, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Syrett, K. (2007), Law, Legitimacy and the Rationing of Healthcare: A Contextual and Comparative Perspective, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Tetlock, P.E. (2000), ‘Coping with trade-offs: psychological constraints and political implications’, in A. Lupia, M.D McCubbins and S.L. Popkin (eds), Elements of Reason: Cognition, Choice, and the Bounds of Rationality, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 239–263.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thibaut, J.W. Walker, L. (1975), Procedural Justice: A Psychological Analysis, Hillsdale, NJ: Erbaum.Google Scholar
Tolbert, C. Mossberger, K. (2006), ‘The effects of e-government on trust and confidence in government’, Public Administration Review 66(3): 354–369.Google Scholar
Tversky, A. Kahneman, D. (1974), ‘Judgment under uncertainty-heuristics and biases’, Science 185: 1124–1131.Google Scholar
Tyler, T.R. (1997), ‘The psychology of legitimacy: a relational perspective on voluntary deference to authorities’, Personality & Social Psychology Review 1(4): 323–345.Google Scholar
Tyler, T.R. (2000), ‘Social justice: outcome and procedure’, International Journal of Psychology 35: 117–125.Google Scholar
Tyler, T.R. (2006a), Why People Obey the Law, Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Tyler, T.R. (2006b), ‘Psychological perspectives on legitimacy and legitimation’, Annual Review of Psychology 57: 375–400.Google Scholar
Tyler, T.R. Rasinski, K. (1991), ‘Procedural justice, institutional legitimacy, and the acceptance of unpopular U.S. Supreme Court decisions: a reply to Gibson’, Law & Society Review 25(3): 621–630.Google Scholar
van der Cruijsen, C.A.B. Eijffinger, S.C.W. (2010), ‘From actual to perceived transparency: the case of the European Central Bank’, Journal of Economic Psychology 31: 388–399.Google Scholar
Waldau, S. (2010), Creating Organisational Capacity for Priority Setting in Healthcare: Using a Bottom-up Approach to Implement a Top-down Policy Decision, Umeå: Umeå University.Google Scholar
Warren, M.E. (1996), ‘Deliberative democracy and authority’, American Political Science Review 90(1): 46–60.Google Scholar
Worthy, B. (2010), ‘More open but not more trusted? The effect of the freedom of information act 2000 on the United Kingdom central government’, Governance 23(4): 561–582.Google Scholar
Zaller, J.R. (1992), The Nature and Origins of Mass Opinion, New York: Cambridge University PrePress.Google Scholar
Supplementary material: File

de Fine Licht Supplementary Material

Appendix

Download de Fine Licht Supplementary Material(File)
File 38.9 KB