Public value creation through the use of open government data in Australian public sector: A quantitative study from employees' perspective

Abstract

Public value creation is one of the most important opportunities of open government data (OGD) for different stakeholders including public sector agencies, private businesses, academia, citizens, and civic organizations. However, OGD has hardly any value on its own, yet the value is created by its use, hence supporting OGD portal use is a key point to delivering public value. Indeed, making an effective impact on OGD requires users to activate its value. Therefore, this study aims to propose a model to explore factors that hinder or facilitate public value creation using OGD from the public sector employee perspective. Using the DeLone and McLean (2003) model as a theoretical basis with the combination of the Moore (1995) framework, the study model was validated in the Australian public sector, using partial least square structural equation modelling. The results of this study support the validity of the research model and discover the factors that have a significant influence on public value creation through the use of OGD in the Australian public sector. Findings reveal that employee's OGD portal use and their satisfaction significantly predict the public value of OGD, while the OGD portal quality, open data quality and service support indirectly affect the public value of OGD. Furthermore, the moderator analysis suggests that awareness of the value of OGD among public sector employees has a critical effect on the delivery of public value.

The proposed theoretical framework can be used to assess the factors affecting OGD public value creation by users in the public sector, which can help researchers and developers to improve and update their system, based on the results.