Key Determinants of Online Fiscal Transparency: A Technology-Organization-Environment Framework

Abstract

Online fiscal transparency is a concept to describe a government’s practice to disseminate financial information on their websites. In this research, we apply the Technology-Organization-Environment (TOE) framework to examine the determinants of online fiscal transparency in U.S. states. Using a panel dataset of all 50 U.S. states from 2010 to 2016, we find that the overall development of digital government is positively related to online fiscal transparency. We also find that short-term financial resources, as measured by the annual budget surplus, enable state government to develop better online fiscal transparency programs, while the long-term financial conditions, as measured by the accumulative fund balance, are negatively related to online fiscal transparency. Citizen’s education level, voter turnout rate, Internet infrastructure, and state legislature’s requirement to disclose financial information via Internet are all positively related to the development of transparency websites.