A logit model to assess the transparency of Italian public administration websites

The reform of Italian public administration, which started in the 1990s, shifted the consolidated paradigm towards a results-oriented management of the res publica. The new regulatory framework emphasised the role of the evaluation process carried out by the designated audit authorities (OIV or NDV); legislators provided a new information system principally making accessible the audit-related data and other information via the institutional websites of Italian cities. In this context, the Minister of Public Administration promoted the platform called 'Bussola della Trasparenza', the goal of which is to ensure easy access to institutional data of the municipalities and to evaluate the available information. However, we found that the results provided by this platform were unreliable. Our study of 525 municipalities showed severe discrepancies with Bussola's evaluation, suggesting a lack of transparency. We therefore propose a logit model as an alternative framework to evaluate the probability that a municipal website is compliant with the new regulations using a set of predictors to consider a broader and more complete definition of transparency. This model is thought to be a practical tool to correctly evaluate the compliance of municipal websites.