The purpose of the research is to analyze the relationship between the authority level and transparency in administrative agencies. Administrative transparency has become an essential value as the Korean society shifted from authoritarianism to a soci...
The purpose of the research is to analyze the relationship between the authority level and transparency in administrative agencies. Administrative transparency has become an essential value as the Korean society shifted from authoritarianism to a society led by active civil participation. As Louis Brandeis noted “sunlight is the best of disinfectants”, government transparency is critical for the establishment of substantial democracy where ownership is entitled to citizens. This research aims to present policy implications of enhancing transparency through empirical analysis of the relationship between the level of authoritative power of central administrative agencies and transparency.
Literature review on transparency can be classified into two categories depending on methodology. One approach is to conduct research on transparency in relation with the disclosure and sharing of information, and the other approach is to study anti-corruption. Building upon the literature review, this research examines transparency, setting the authority level of government agency as the independent variable and transparency as the dependent variable. Based on a two dimensional approach, an analytical framework is set by conducting operational definition of variables of information disclosure status and integrity. Two hypotheses can be tested; the higher the level of authority, the more passive information disclosure will be(Hypothesis 1), and the higher the level of authority, the lower the level of anti-corruption (Hypothesis 2). For in-depth verification of Hypothesis 1, information disclosure status is categorized into quantitative information disclosure rate, qualitative information disclosure rate and information processing time. Each variable is rated and analyzed through the process of operational definition.
The Power Index by Jae-Rok Oh(2014), annual reports on information disclosure published by the Ministry of the Interior, integrity assessments announced by the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission were used for the analysis. Government agencies of former Roh Moo Hyun and Lee Myung Bak Administration from year 2003 to 2012 carry some similarities in terms of the name and function, but are mostly different as distinct characteristics and organizational changes were set and applied during the early stages of each Administration. Reflecting this dimension, the number of target administrative agencies for analysis differs in accordance with respective Administration. Multiple regression analysis was conducted for 44 agencies in the Roh government, and 40 agencies in the Lee government to evaluate the effect of authority level on information disclosure; 34 agencies in the Roh government, and 37 agencies in the Lee government to examine the relation of authority level and integrity. The thesis has limitations of having insufficient sample size as the research is focused on central administrative agencies. To complement the limitations, cross analysis data are used as reference in addition to multiple regression analysis.
The results of the relation between the authority level and information disclosure indicate that the level of authority and information processing time have significant negative effect in both Administrations, but in aspects of quantitative and qualitative information disclosure rate, results show significance only in the Lee government and no relevance in the Roh government. However, the cross analysis data reflects the authority level of both Administrations having significant effect on the information disclosure rate. Taking all results into consideration, it can be interpreted that authority has a neutral effect in terms of quantitative and qualitative information disclosure rate, and has significant negative effect on the information processing time. This verifies Hypothesis 1-3 of information processing time, while maintaining the grounds that the findings does not fully support Hypothesis 1-1(quantitative information disclosure) and Hypothesis 1-2(qualitative information disclosure).
The relationship between authority level and integrity shows significant negative effect in both Administrations(p<.01 significance in Roh Administration, p<.05 significance in Lee Administration). These results are in line with Hypothesis 2 which states that the higher the authority level is in an administrative agency, the lower the anti-corruption level will become.
In conclusion, although there may be differences in each Administration concerning the effect of the authority level on quantitative and qualitative information disclosure rate of an administrative agency, findings indicate that the information processing time gets delayed as the authority level is higher. Concerning anti-corruption, results show that as the authority level is higher, the integrity level gets lower. These results validate the research question that transparency level will be low if the authority level is high, based on previous research on the Street-Level Bureaucracy Theory, Public Choice Theory, and Principal Agent Theory. The findings imply that policies to enhance government transparency should be implemented not on a uniform basis but in consideration of the distinct features in authoritative and unauthoritative agencies. For agencies in position of authority, stronger improvements are required to enhance transparency to ensure its role for the civil society rather than the ruling government.