Transparency in Swedish Municipalities : A quantitative study of active digital transparency in Swedish municipalities and its explanatory factors

This study aims to examine active, digital transparency levels in Swedish municipalities, aswell as its potential explanatory factors using a stakeholder-oriented index design. All 290municipal websites are examined to create a representative index which can be analyzedbased on theoretical assumptions of why transparency and digital administration is developed.Transparency levels in Sweden seem internationally competitive compared to some previousstudies. However, there is still room for most municipalities to increase their activetransparency levels, especially in order to better meet their constituents’ political interests.Four bivariate and two multivariate regression models are developed and examined, showingonly population size correlates significantly with active, digital transparency levels. Thiscould be due to factors of scale, or a greater lack of connection to political leadership inmunicipalities with a larger population.