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An evaluative study of accountability and transparency in local government: an executive dissertation

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An evaluative study of accountability and transparency in local government: an executive dissertation

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Content Running head: ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRANSPARENCY 1

AN EVALUATIVE STUDY OF ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRANSPARENCY IN LOCAL
GOVERNMENT: AN EXECUTIVE DISSERTATION

by
Daniel Gomez

A Dissertation Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE USC ROSSIER SCHOOL OF EDUCATION
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
DOCTOR OF EDUCATION

August 2019

Copyright 2019 Daniel Gomez

ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRANSPARENCY 2
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to thank my family and friends who without their help, support and
encouragement I would not have been able to complete this journey. I especially want to thank
my Mother Guadalupe and Sister Elizabeth who have helped pick me up when I have failed and
gave me the courage to continue. My Mother and Sister reminded me that anything is possible
through hard work, tenacity and not having to compromise one’s value system. I also would like
to thank all the professors that I have studied under during this process. Each professor brought
their own unique perspective, but all had a passion for learning which greatly impacted me.

ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRANSPARENCY 3
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Acknowledgements 2
List of Tables 5
Abstract 6
Introduction 7
Organizational Context and Mission 7
Importance of Addressing the Problem 8
Organizational Performance Goal and Current Performance 9
Description of Stakeholder Groups 9
Stakeholder Groups’ Performance Goals 10
Stakeholder Group of Focus and Stakeholder Goal 11
Purpose of the Project and Questions 11
Methodological Approach 13
Review of the Literature 15
Transparency in Local Government 15
History of Transparency in Local Government 17
Stakeholder Theory 20
Challenges and Barriers in Increasing Transparency 23
Employees’ Knowledge, Motivational and Organizational Influences 24
Conceptual Framework: The Interaction of Employees’ Knowledge, Motivation and the
Organizational Context 35
Participating Stakeholders: Sampling and Recruitment 39
Artifact Analysis Sampling Criteria and Rationale 39
Artifact Analysis Sampling (Recruitment) Strategy and Rationale 40
Interview Sampling Criteria and Rationale 41
Interview Sampling Recruitment Strategy and Rationale 41
Qualitative Data Collection and Instrumentation 43
Documents and Artifacts 44
Interviews 45
Results and Findings 48
Results 48
Knowledge Results and Findings 49
Motivation Results and Findings 54
Organization Influence Results and Findings 57
Artifact Analysis 62
Organizational Influences’ Results and Findings 62
Summary of Results and Findings 63
Recommendations for Practice 65
Knowledge Recommendations 65
Motivation Recommendations 68
Goal Orientation Theory 69
Organizational Recommendations 70
ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRANSPARENCY 4
References 76
Appendix A: Document and Artifact Protocol 86
Appendix B: Interview Protocol 89
Appendix C: Credibility and Trustworthiness 92
Appendix D: Ethics 94
Appendix E: Limitations and Delimitations 97

ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRANSPARENCY 5
LIST OF TABLES
Table 1: Stakeholder Groups’ Performance Goals 10
Table 2: Knowledge Influences 28
Table 3: Motivation Influences 32
Table 4: General Organizational Influences 35
Table 5: Summary of Knowledge Influences and Recommendations 66
Table 6: Summary of Motivation Influences and Recommendations 68
Table 7: Summary of Organization Influences and Recommendations 71

ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRANSPARENCY 6
ABSTRACT
There has been an increasing public demand for accountability and transparency from public
agencies (Kang, 2006). The failure of local government providing accountability and
transparency includes a lack of stakeholder engagement and empowerment through information
(Alcaraz-Quiles, Navarro-Galera, & Ortiz-Rodríguez, 2014). The organization chosen for this
study, Chrystal Springs Regional Planning Government (CSPRG, a pseudonym) is a regional
metropolitan planning organization. The first research question addressed the CSRPG Electronic
Payment Services employees’ knowledge, skills and motivation related to promoting
transparency and accountability by engaging stakeholders as part of the CSRPG’s Public
Participation Plan. The second research question looked at the interactions between CSRPG’s
organizational culture and context with the knowledge, skills and motivation of CSRPG
Electronic Payment Services employees. The stakeholder group for this study are the employees
of the CSRPG’s Electronic Payment Services. This evaluative study employed Clark and Estes’
(2008) model and was a qualitative bounded case study to obtain a large picture to evaluate the
employees’ ability to promote transparency and accountability. This study found that employees
of the CSRPG’s Electronic Payment Services department were highly motivated. However,
challenges were identified in the areas of knowledge and organizational influences regarding
promoting transparency and accountability. Recommendations to address these include
increasing formal professional development opportunities, creating job aids to promote
collaboration and communication between workgroups and improving on existing systems to
provide stakeholder feedback in areas of transparency and accountability.
ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRANSPARENCY 7
INTRODUCTION
The public has demanded accountability and transparency regarding how public
organizations operate and spend money (Kang, 2006). This demand has only increased over the
years in response to various failures in local government and the public sector. The financial
meltdown of 2008 (Melitski & Manohran, 2014), as well as the presidential election of 2016,
revealed a general distrust of government in people’s lives (Balz, 2017). The importance of local
government providing accountability and transparency is well documented (Alcaraz-Quiles,
Navarro-Galera, & Ortiz-Rodríguez, 2014) and includes a lack of stakeholder inclusion and
empowerment through the provision of information.
Organizational Context and Mission
Chrystal Springs Regional Planning Government (CSRPG, a pseudonym) is a
metropolitan planning organization which coordinates planning, finance, and management of
transit services for a large metropolitan area. The CSRPG’s mission is to provide an effortless
fare payment experience for regional travel on roadways and public transportation and with
related transportation services. The CSRPG is also a steward of public funds which includes
ensuring that revenue is properly managed in accordance with regional policies and plans. The
CSRPG is run by a commission. Partner agencies also play an important role, whose mission is
to respond to the transportation needs of the public. The CSRPG’s area of influence covers a
large metropolitan region with a population in the millions. The CSRPG employs hundreds of
employees, has a large operating budget and is responsible for allocating essential federal and
state funds to local transit agencies and governments.
The CSRPG serves a region that has seen job growth and prosperity. However, with this
growth has come the challenge of continuing to provide safe and reliable transit service to meet
ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRANSPARENCY 8
the region’s current transportation needs as well as planning for the region’s future transportation
needs. The CSRPG has tried to meet these challenges as well as engage the public and local
governments through efforts to increase transparency and accountability.
Importance of Addressing the Problem
Accountability and transparency are important to address because they are necessary to
create trust between internal and external stakeholders, such as the public and local government.
The demand for increased transparency and accountability has also been seen throughout the
world (Fadairo, Williams, & Maggio, 2015). As Fedairo et al. (2015) discuss, part of this
demand is in response to increased citizen engagement and desire for increased information
regarding accountability and transparency. Accountability and transparency in local government
allows public agencies to meet mission goals and to be accountable and transparent to
stakeholders by building trust through civic engagement (Ramamoorti, McCall, & Van Daniker,
2006). Trust is an important component in local government because it facilitates engagement
and the exchange of ideas and values between the citizens it serves. Without this trust and
exchange, citizens will not be served by the government. Other benefits of accountability and
oversight include the mitigation of risk from short-term financial speculation and long-term debt
that is fueled by political agendas and special interest groups (Acharya, 2012). Another benefit
is local government is forced to address barriers to long-term sustainability (Lank, 2007).
Without accountability and transparency, local government stops serving the purpose for which
it was created. The result would be a stratified society serving the few in power. This represents
a failure of government to serve the people.
The CSRPG is a typical government agency that must continue to engage the public in its
process of meeting its mission goals. This public engagement is state and federally mandated.
ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRANSPARENCY 9
This public engagement includes improving how the CSRPG’s Electronic Payment Services
Department engages the public through surveys and metrics from the CSRPG’s web site which
will show public access to information regarding transparency and accountability.
Organizational Performance Goal and Current Performance
The organizational goal of CSRPG is by June 30, 2021, the CSRPG will show an
increase in customer satisfaction performance indicators, regarding transparency and
accountability for its electronic payment service department. A benchmark will be established at
the beginning of this monitoring period. Management of the CSPRG’s Electronic Payment
Services Department will receive and set the benchmark performance data and continue to
monitor the data. The data come from online surveys and website metrics regarding public
access to documents and information associated with transparency and accountability. These
performance metrics that will measure the CSRPG’s engagement with the public regarding
transparency and accountability is also in alignment with the CSRPG’s public engagement plan.
The result of this information will be provided online in an easy-to-understand format which will
be used by policy makers as well as the public. This is one-way CSRPG officials engage the
public, and its partner agencies by being accountable and transparent, by setting performance
benchmarks, and by measuring performance in transparency and accountability.
Description of Stakeholder Groups
There are three main stakeholder groups that contribute to CSRPG’s organizational goal
of showing an increase in customer satisfaction performance indicators regarding transparency
and accountability for its electronic payment service. The first of these stakeholder groups
consists of the employees of CSRPG’s Electronic Payment Services Department, as shown in
Table 1. Electronic Payment Services Department employees promote transparency and
ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRANSPARENCY 10
accountability by ensuring a seamless fare payment experience for the regions travel and
transportation services. The second stakeholder group consists of the CSRPG Commission.
CSRPG Commissioners represent the counties of the region as well as the U.S. Federal
Departments. The CSRPG Commission serves as the governing authority and sets policy for the
CSRPG. Third, CSRPG inter-agency partners include transit agencies, congestion management
agencies, regional government agencies, air quality board agencies, conservation agencies and
state agencies including law enforcement. The CSRPG inter-agency partners have a vested
interest and work closely with the CSRPG to achieve a unified goal of providing a safe and
sustainable transportation system for the region.
Stakeholder Groups’ Performance Goals
Table 1
Stakeholder Groups’ Performance Goals
Organizational Mission
The CSRPG will provide an effortless fare payment experience for regional travel on roadways and
public transportation and with related transportation services. We are stewards of public funds and
ensure that revenue is properly managed in accordance with regional policies and plans.
Organizational Global Goal
By June 30, 2021, the CSRPG Electronic Payment Programs will show an increase in customer
satisfaction performance indicators, regarding transparency and accountability for its electronic
payment service departments.
CSRPG Electronic Payment
Services employees

CSRPG Commissioners CSRPG Interagency Partners
Before the beginning of the new
fiscal year 2020-2021, on July 1,
2020, CSRPG Electronic
Payment Services employees
will survey electronic payment
programs customers which will
include transparency and
accountability to create a
baseline for performance
monitoring.
By the end of fiscal year 2020-
2021, CSRPG Commissioners
will incorporate customer
satisfaction survey data which
will address transparency and
accountability to improve
electronic revenue programs.
By the beginning of fiscal year
2020–2021, on July 1, 2020,
CSRPG Interagency Partners
will incorporate customer
surveying in the area of
transparency and accountability
within its Public Engagement
Plan.

ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRANSPARENCY 11
Stakeholder Group of Focus and Stakeholder Goal
Although a complete analysis would involve all stakeholder groups, for practical
purposes, employees of the CSRPG Electronic Payment Services Department will be the focus of
this study. The CSRPG Electronic Payment Services Department oversees two electronic
payment service programs which are electronic payments for toll roads and bridges and an
electronic payment program for regional bus, rail and ferry transit. The CSRPG Electronic
Payment Services Department is operational in nature and is part of the larger CSRPG
organization which is a planning organization. The reason for selecting this stakeholder group is
their direct impact on organizational transparency and accountability by ensuring the CSRPG
provides a reliable and seamless transportation experience for the region’s public. Measurable
achievement for these employees lies in their efforts to promote transparency and accountability
by engaging the public and ensuring that the CSRPG Electronic Payment Services Department is
promoting transparency and accountability. If the CSRPG Electronic Payment Services
Department’s goals are not met, the CSRPG will not be able to achieve its organizational goal
of showing measurable improvement in increasing customer satisfaction performance indicators,
regarding transparency and accountability for its electronic payment service departments.
Purpose of the Project and Questions
The purpose of this study was to understand the degree to which one local government
agency’s employees are successful in promoting transparency as well as in identifying areas in
need of improvement. The chosen organization for this evaluation study is a local metropolitan
planning organization known as the CSRPG. This study employed a modified version of Clark
and Estes’ (2008) gap analysis model, that not only identified gaps, but also assets and needs of
CSRPG’s Electronic Payment Services employees, to promote transparency. These employees
ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRANSPARENCY 12
will be the focus of this study because they have the most power in affecting transparency in
CSRPG. Other stakeholder groups include the public, the CSRPG’s Commission and the
CSRPG’s partner transit agencies. These stakeholder groups have equal stake in promoting
transparency, but they are not the focus of this study.
The gap analysis, modified for an evaluation model and presented via an executive
dissertation format in this study, model identifies three areas of influence in understanding
performance: knowledge and skills, motivation and organizational factors. As Clark and Estes
(2008) asserted, these three areas of influence affect individual and organizational performance.
These three areas will be observed among electronic payment employees in relation to promoting
transparency and accountability by engaging the public through surveys, regarding the CSRPG’s
Electronic Payment Services Programs before the beginning of the new fiscal year 2020-2021 on
July 1, 2020.
This study’s three main research questions provided a general framework as well as a
starting point that will allow a deeper look at what employees are doing to maintain transparency
in local government through engagement of another group of primary stakeholders: the public.
1. What are the CSRPG Electronic Payment Services employees’ knowledge, skills and
motivation related to promoting transparency and accountability by engaging
stakeholders as part of the CSRPG’s Public Participation Plan?
2. What are the interactions between CSRPG’s organizational culture and context with
the knowledge, skills and motivation of CSRPG Electronic Payment Services
employees?
3. What are the recommendations from studying CSRPG Electronic Payment Services
employees in the areas of knowledge and skills, motivation, and organizational
ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRANSPARENCY 13
resources, that may be appropriate for increasing transparency in other local
governments?
Methodological Approach
To assess how CSRPG Electronic Payment Services employees promote transparency
and accountability, a qualitative case study methodology was utilized. Qualitative methods are
appropriate for this bounded case study because of the necessity to obtain a large picture and
context to evaluate the employees’ ability to promote transparency and accountability. This
qualitative study was an exploratory approach that allowed for deeper analysis of the data to
understand how participants interact within their environment as well as other stakeholders, such
as the public they serve. This qualitative study was inductive and included in-depth questions
during interviews that were designed to reach further into the areas of knowledge, motivation,
and organizational influences. As Creswell (2014) described, qualitative research is inductive by
nature. The limited access to a small number of CSRPG controller’s staff will not pose a
challenge. A qualitative study will also lend itself to the limited availability of interviewees.
This contrasts with a quantitative study where more participants are generally needed to obtain a
sample size large enough to assert validity of the findings.
Data collection for this qualitative study also required document and artifact analysis.
This included studying artifacts such as policy and procedures as well as forms used by the
employees of the CSRPG Electronic Payment. As Creswell (2014) discussed, studying artifacts
in an organization may include reviewing audio-visual data that is part of the participants’
environment. As part of the artifact analysis, this study looked at the CSRPG’s web site.
This study employed an exploratory approach of inquiry which is inductive by nature and
can form and adapt theories as new information is discovered. This is in direct alignment with a
ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRANSPARENCY 14
qualitative study which employs an inductive process (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). Inquiry also
included a qualitative analysis once an initial qualitative study provides a broad view of what is
happening within the electronic payment department regarding transparency and accountability.
This initial type of inquiry required a holistic approach which allowed me. This study employed
gathering data from multiple sources which included interviews and artifact analysis to obtain a
more complete picture to evaluate whether employees are successful in promoting transparency
by engaging the entire organization. This method is discussed by Creswell (2014) as an effective
way of providing a more detailed account of the problem being studied.

ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRANSPARENCY 15
REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE
The literature review revealed that there has been an increasing demand, from
stakeholders, in transparency and accountability in local government. There also has been an
evolution on how local government increases transparency and accountability from performance
measurement to managing performance outcomes. Best practices identified in the literature
review cite increased communication through technology but also warn that this technology is
only secondary to the content provided and overall actions and history of the government
agency. The literature review also revealed the complex dynamics and power that stakeholders
exert on local government. Some of these stakeholder groups have more power and can
influence local government and how it approaches transparency and accountability.
Transparency in Local Government
Stakeholders demand an ever-increasing level of transparency, engagement and
interaction between government and constituents. A comparative analysis of transparency and
sustainability reporting looked at how local and regional governments provided information to
the public (Alcaraz-Quiles et al., 2014). In this study, only 50% of information recommended by
Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) standards was provided by local government websites. In
comparison, regional governments provided slightly more information to the public: 60% of
information recommended by GRI standards. As the authors point out, transparency and
sustainability should be integral to local government. However, the authors found that, although
external stakeholders are closer to local government, local government does not necessarily
provide them more information.
Corruption in local government has driven the demand for increased transparency and
accountability (Araujo & Tejado-Romero, 2016). Araujo and Tejado-Romero (2016) examined
ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRANSPARENCY 16
the influence of both the supply and demand sides of transparency on transparency and
accountability in local government. Political factors revealed as having a significant impact on
transparency were electoral turnout, political ideology and political competition (Araujo &
Tejado-Romero 2016). These political factors have a direct bearing on transparency and
accountability and, as a result, local politicians feel pressure engage the public in the political
process by creating trust.
Multi-stakeholder initiatives (MSI) involve a partnership among governments, society
and the private sector and the number of these initiatives is on the rise (Brockmyer, 2016).
However, as Brockmyer (2016) states, the success of these MSI is influenced by political factors.
Political support is necessary for these initiatives in transparency and accountability to work.
Evidence shows that governments have made efforts towards increasing and projecting the image
of transparency, but on-demand-driven transparency remains the most effective form of MSI.
The reason for this is that there are performance metrics in place to allow stakeholders to hold
government accountable. Brockmyer also found that higher levels of government lacked these
performance metrics and were subsequently ineffective in providing transparency and
accountability to all stakeholders. Evidence also suggests that governments purposely mislead
stakeholders/international observers through reporting systems designed to increase
transparency. Thus, research shows the continued and increasing demand for transparency in the
public sector (Alcaraz-Quiles et al., 2014; Araujo & Tejado-Romero, 2016; Brockmyer, 2016).
There is a need for an evaluation study to identify gaps in or examples of best practices of
transparency to organizations as well as strategies for empowering stakeholders.

ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRANSPARENCY 17
History of Transparency in Local Government
It is important to look back in the literature to find the origins of the concepts of
transparency and accountability in local government and how have these concepts have evolved
to present day. In the early 2000’s, there was a focus on performance measurement Rivenbark et
al. (2016). The literature also reveals a paradigm shift from performance measurement to
performance management. Evidence in the literature suggests that local governments have used
performance measures to improve services to the public. The literature also reveals data on larger
municipalities but is limited regarding smaller local government. A comparative study by
Rivenbark et al. (2013) looked at two municipalities in the united states and one in Italy that had
a population range between 1000 and 4999. The study revealed that smaller local governments
do have the capacity to move from performance measurement to performance management.
Government accounting and financial reporting have evolved over the last century.
Government accounting has gone from guidelines adopted by some government entities to a
standardized set of guidelines that are set as the standard for all levels of government (Arapis &
Grady, 2015). Reforms in accounting and financial reporting came in three distinct waves
resulting in today’s standards which allow for uniformity. Some argue that these set standards
have achieved their mission in establishing uniformity and that the institutions such as
Government Accounting Standards Board (GASB) and the Government Financial Officers
Association (GFOA) should be disbanded. Others argue that the set standards for accounting
and financial reporting are too complex for the average person to understand. This lack of
transparency to the average citizen is described by Arapis and Grady’s study which showed that
only five out of 71 GASB reports promote transparency (2015). However, Arapis and Grady
(2015) recognized the importance of these institutions in setting accounting and financial
ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRANSPARENCY 18
reporting and the accountability and transparency they create. These institutions must respond to
this criticism and make financial reporting more accessible to the citizen. Financial reporting
should not only provide information to decision makers but also be accessible to the average
citizen to provide accountability and transparency.
Even though GASB has been created, there is some question on how many local
governments have adopted this standard. Much of this relies on that government’s state
requirements (Patrick, 2010). Governments are more likely to comply if there are financial
incentives from the state. As Patrick (2010) discusses, not all governments will comply with
GASB standards which are designed to show a government’s long-term sustainability. Many
governments will only produce financial reporting which will show revenue and expenditures.
In Patrick’s (2010) study, 2,632 Pennsylvanian local governments’ participation level in GASB
financial reporting standards of which only 34% were shown to follow GASB financial reporting
standards. In addition to this, no one knows what percentage of 87,575 local governments have
adopted GASB financial reporting standards, but estimates are low.
Transparency and accountability are integral concepts that have evolved in response to
external forces and demands of local government. As government has become more complex
and integral in stakeholder’s lives, the demand for transparency and accountability has grown.
This demand for local government to adopt best practices regarding transparency and
accountability continues. There is still much room for improvement. Many local governments
will only comply with improving transparency and accountability if they are mandated by
external stakeholders with power.
Current best practices in increasing transparency and accountability. The literature
also revealed best practices and important factors that local government must be aware of when
ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRANSPARENCY 19
trying to improve transparency and accountability. An effective way of fostering transparency
and accountability is using technology (Veal, Sauser, William Tamblyn, Sauser, & Sims, 2015).
However, a barrier exists in the form of the digital divide which can prevent segments of society
from obtaining information regarding transparency and accountability. This will hamper
inclusion of many communities and work against the democratic prosses. In addition to this,
Veal et al. (2015) showed that measuring transparency is difficult and there is no one single
effective method. Examples of best practices are provided by Veal et al. (2015) included three
different municipalities which engage the public by providing effective web sites that provide
detailed information many areas which include all departments, codes and ordinances and jobs.
In addition to this, performance metrics are shown as a best practice that provides transparency
and accountability in a municipality’s web site. Creating trust is cited as a major reason for
increasing transparency and accountability in local government (Veal et al., 2015).
The use of technology to promote transparency and accountability has many pitfalls
which requires local government to focus on the quality of information provided and not just the
rhetoric of transparency and accountability (Shkabatur, 2012). As discussed by Shkabatur
(2012), local government should focus on website content which should provide information on
the decision-making process and performance measurement. Furthermore, Shkabatur (2012)
also stated that enforcement measures should be in place if performance goals are not met. This
difference in following through and providing relevant information regarding transparency and
accountability and going through the motions is a common problem in local government
(Shkabatur, 2012).
There is a disconnection in local government between increasing public trust promoting
transparency and accountability (Grimmelikhuijsen, Porumbescu, Hong, & Im, 2013). This
ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRANSPARENCY 20
disconnection is a result from a failure of governments of seeing the increasing of public trust as
a goal and solution to ever increasing distrust of government. A study by Grimmelikhuijsen et
al. (2013) found that cultural context had an impact of how citizens perceived government efforts
in transparency and accountability. An example provided in this is study is how citizens
consider a government’s previous track record regarding transparency and accountability which
has a greater impact on the public’s trust than newly implemented measures towards increased
transparency and accountability. Initiatives to increase transparency and accountability are only
part of the solution and cannot change or improve the public’s opinion by itself. Other factors
such as the government agency’s historical record regarding transparency and accountability
have a larger impact on the public’s perception.
Best practices regarding improving transparency and accountability include increasing
stakeholders’ accessibility to information through technology. However, this is only one aspect
of many which also include ensure that the information is easy to understand and relevant to
improving government’s performance in transparency and accountability. An important factor in
increasing transparency and accountability is trust. Which also relies on how a government
agency has performed historically.
Stakeholder Theory
Stakeholder theory (Freeman, 2004) has varied roots and plays an important and ever-
changing role in a local government’s plan for stakeholders. Stakeholder theory comes from
several narratives and is not well defined as a unifying concept (Miles, 2017). The value of
stakeholder theory, as identified by Miles (2017), is that has a wide appeal in many disciplines.
This has resulted in much confusion and conflicting views of stakeholder theory. To attempt to
classify these definitions, Miles conducted a comprehensive study which identified 885
ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRANSPARENCY 21
definitions of stakeholder theory derived from 667 articles. Miles creates a system that can be
applied to many disciplines to bring order to an otherwise confused field with competing
definitions. As Miles discussed, this study is only the beginning. Increased efforts are necessary
in dialog and efforts to focus the field of stakeholder theory.
Stakeholder theory is applied to all sectors with varying success due to challenges and
pushback from established stakeholders (Loi, 2016). Loi (2016) noted the importance of using
stakeholder theory in managing organizations. However, there is currently little research and
supporting data to support the implementation and advancement of stakeholder theory (Loi,
2016). Loi concluded that stakeholder theory is essential in a strategic plan for an organization
to realize multiple goals that meet external stakeholders’ needs.
There are similarities between the perceptions of mayors and CEOs in the public and
private sector regarding stakeholders (Siriwardhane & Taylor, 2014). As Siriwardhane and
Taylor (2014) observed, stakeholders from the private sector did play an important role in the
decision-making process but represented a group with rightful needs and expectations yet
without an overriding power when compared to high level government-tier stakeholders.
However, when it came to infrastructure planning, all stakeholders appeared to have a more
equal voice in both the public and private sectors. Stakeholder theory is a universal and unifying
concept for local government which provides a roadmap on how to effectively engage and
interact with the public in its primary role of serving constituents.
Internal and external stakeholders and the forces they exert on local government.
Stakeholders also exert their own influences on local government, each with its own level of
power and influence. A study by Liu, Lindquist, Vedlitz and Vincent, (2010) interviewed 271
participants from Florida, Louisiana and Texas. These participants represented various
ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRANSPARENCY 22
stakeholders and identified major actors when it came to influence policy decisions in local
government. The most powerful of these actors were Federal, State, local government and
special interest groups. The study identified important factors included bringing attention to
important policy decisions, coalition building to create consensus and alignment with other
policy decisions. Budgetary considerations were also identified as the most cited factor in
influencing policy.
Regime politics is brought forth by Wang (2018) who described a powerful political
force in local government which is dominated by an elite group of people who have economic
and political power. An important aspect of these political regimes is coalition building, which
is described by Wang (2018) as the way the politically elite can secure their interests with other
elites who share the same political and economic goals. Furthermore, Wang (2018) discussed
how it is necessary to study local politics and the established political regime in order to be
successful in policy implementation.
The power relationship between government and the private sector was looked at by
Sallinen, Ruuska and Ahola (2013) who conducted a study that looked at how stakeholders
influenced large nuclear projects. Participants in this single case study discussed how the
government was a powerful stakeholder that can enable or impose limitations in the heavily
regulated private sector of building nuclear powerplants. This power was also seen as a way the
government placed the needs of society first by protecting the public’s interest. Managers were
encouraged to not see this relationship in an adversarial way but to work closely with
government to move projects forward.
Stakeholders have different strategies on how they influence local government policy,
which result in how much power a stakeholder exert. Some of these strategies include building
ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRANSPARENCY 23
coalitions to ensure that stakeholder groups’ mutual self-interests are protected. Other
stakeholders do not necessarily have their own power but do so through larger entities such as
the Federal government which can exert influence to protect the public’s interest. The literature
reveals that it is in the best interest of government and the private sector to understand these
stakeholders and the political landscape which can have a direct impact on government policy.
Challenges and Barriers in Increasing Transparency
Despite improvements, fundamental problems and new challenges require governments
and organizations to be innovative in creating solutions for continued transparency. E-
governance is one solution discussed by Bertot, Jaeger and Grimes (2012) as a cost-effective
way to counter corruption. Local governments worldwide are embracing e-governance as part of
a larger strategy of information communications technologies to increase transparency. E-
governance has been part of a recent global movement to counter corruption, increase trust and
facilitate the democratic process. As Bertot et al. (2012) discussed, E-governance may help local
government engage the public, but there is a need to continue to evaluate how successful these
programs are in promoting transparency.
The advent of open data to increase transparency has uncovered obstacles such as non-
alignment with organizational goals, lack of compliance with regulations and a lack of focus and
purpose of data (Sayogo et al., 2014). The actual collection of data, accuracy, credibility, access
by stakeholders, cost and data ownership were areas that pose a challenge for open data.
However, social pressure and consumer activism drive an increase in availability of information.
Furthermore, Sayogo et al., (2014) concluded that government plays a vital role in facilitating
both the private and public sector in providing information to stakeholders through open data.
ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRANSPARENCY 24
Looking at organizational culture on a global scale, Navarro-Galera, Lozano, Tirado-
Valencia and Del Los Rios-Berjillos (2017) conducted a comparative analysis which looked at
72 local governments in 10 European countries and found a country’s administrative culture and
normative context have a direct impact on transparency. In addition, e-governance was found to
be an essential component of transparency on a global level. There was a marked difference in
accountability between northern and southern European cultures which was heavily influenced
by management culture and had a direct impact on how each addressed transparency and
accountability (Navarro-Galera et al., 2017). The challenges of increasing transparency in local
government are continuous and constantly changing, requiring public servants to remain
adaptable, innovative and strategic in our solutions to this problem, which includes looking at
solutions within the public sector as well as outside our area of expertise and being open to that
change.
Employees’ Knowledge, Motivational and Organizational Influences
There are knowledge, motivation and organizational influences related to CSRPG
Electronic Payment Services employees promoting transparency and accountability by engaging
departments within the organization. Examining knowledge and motivation skills in problem
solving allows organizations to perform a gap analysis to measure and improve performance
indicators as well as ensure these indicators align with organizational goals and objectives (Clark
& Estes, 2008). The three areas an organization can address to improve performance are lack of
resources, knowledge and motivation (Clark & Estes, 2008). Knowledge contributes to job
performance and is classified by complexity in areas such as information, job aids, training and
education (Clark & Estes, 2008). Motivation, according to Clark and Estes (2008), refers to
momentum as well as to how much effort one should put into an activity. Organization
ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRANSPARENCY 25
influences can help or hinder employee performance which manifest from an organization’s
culture, policy and procedure and resources (Clark & Estes, 2008).
Knowledge influences. There are four types of knowledge that influence employees:
factual, conceptual, procedural and metacognitive (Krathwohl, 2002). Each addresses a different
type of area or dimension of knowledge. Factual knowledge pertains to elements that are
specific to an area or discipline. Conceptual knowledge relates to concepts, models, structures
and systems. Procedural knowledge refers to how to complete or perform a task. Lastly,
metacognitive knowledge is awareness of one’s learning process.
Knowledge of current transparency laws and regulations. To promote transparency and
accountability, CSRPG Electronic Payment Service employees must be aware of current law and
regulations as well as policy specific to the public they serve. This is rooted in local government
having the longest history as well as being the most accessible and fundamental form of
government that still relies on building public trust to work (Shah, 2014). Trust is an essential
component for local government to succeed in its primary purpose to serve the people and
enables interaction and an exchange of ideas which allows local government to adapt to the
changing needs of the public. As part of building trust, government employees must monitor and
identify areas of improvement for all stakeholders both for transparency and to prevent conflicts
of interest (Golden, 2010). Government employees have a responsibility to increase
transparency by increasing individual knowledge and being subject matter experts in their field.
This allows for more efficient operations as well as for remaining up-to-date with best practices.
Lastly, the need for government employees’ continued development of knowledge and expertise
is also evidenced by impending retirements of government workers who will take institutional
knowledge with them once they leave (Jacobson, 2010). Maintaining a workforce of
ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRANSPARENCY 26
knowledgeable individuals is an increasing challenge that will be only be compounded in the
foreseeable future and increase the workload for those who remain.
Knowledge of where organizational culture stands on transparency. Organizational
culture can either facilitate or hinder transparency (Nurdin, Stockdale, & Scheepers, 2011). It is
important for all employees to know where their organization operates in this spectrum to
navigate and improve, if necessary, internal systems and procedures (Nurdin, et al., 2011). Part
of understanding an organization’s stance on transparency comes from looking at the political
sources acting on the organization itself. One of these is society’s increased demand for
transparency (Ruijer, 2013), which is in response to recent global financial crises resulting in
many governments’ moving towards providing more information to stakeholders (Navarro-
Galera et al., 2017). Other obstacles to an employee’s efforts to increase transparency are an
organizational culture reactive to outside negative forces and the fact that the field an
organization operates in naturally requires a lack of transparency (Swire, 2007). Even so, these
types of organizations must answer to their constituencies and be accountable. Organizational
culture can be the greatest barrier to change regardless of how well-intentioned proponents of
increased transparency may be (Clark & Estes, 2008). By knowing an organization’s culture,
employees can identify whether there is a gap in alignment between culture and mission (Clark
& Estes, 2008). To do this, employees must be involved in increasing transparency, which may
challenge organizational norms and cultural barriers.
Knowledge of how the public perceives actions. Public demand, shortfall in resources or
change in political power create a demand for performance management and improvement in the
public sector (Kudo, 2008). This increases pressure and drives employees to increase
transparency. Public access to government information is a vital component in the nation’s
ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRANSPARENCY 27
institutions of democracy and free market (Florini, 2002). However, Harder and Jordan (2013)
showed that local governments’ websites should at least provide general information, yet most
do not. Ideal government websites provide meaningful information, are transactional in nature
and engage the public in government processes (Harder & Jordan, 2013). Table 2 illustrates the
knowledge influences used for this study and presents the overall organizational mission as well
as the stakeholder goal. There are three main columns for Table 2, which identify the knowledge
influence, the knowledge type and knowledge assessment used within this study. Each row
provides a description of the knowledge influence as well as the type of knowledge and specific
assessment were used to identify that knowledge influencer. The first knowledge influence is
that employees need knowledge of current transparency laws to better serve the public, increase
efficiency and protect the CSRPG from risk. This requires conceptual knowledge and this study
used interviews to identify how this type of knowledge influences CSRPG Electronic Payment
Services employees. Another type of knowledge is how employees need to be aware of how
their actions are perceived by the public. This is shown in Table 2 as metacognitive knowledge.
Interviews were used to identify how employees are influenced by this knowledge influencer.
The last knowledge influencer identified is that employees must know how to carry out their job
duties and work roles to ensure that the entire organization works within the approved budget.
This requires procedural knowledge, which was assessed through interviews.

ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRANSPARENCY 28
Table 2
Knowledge Influences
Knowledge Influence Knowledge Type (i.e., declarative
(factual or conceptual), procedural,
or metacognitive)

Knowledge Influence
Assessment
Employees need knowledge of
current transparency laws to be
able to better serve the public,
increase efficiency and protect the
organization from risk.

Conceptual Interviews
Knowledge Influence Knowledge Type (i.e., declarative
(factual or conceptual), procedural,
or metacognitive)

Knowledge Influence
Assessment
Employees need to be aware of
how their actions are perceived
by the public.

Metacognitive Interviews
Employees must know how to
engage the entire organization
and role in promoting
transparency and accountability
by ensuring the CSRPG engages
outside stakeholders.

Procedural Interviews

Motivation influences. Motivation causes humans to make the choice to act (Clark &
Estes, 2008). Motivation can be affected by demotivating forces as well as distractions in the
form of competing tasks. Motivation is one of the three most important factors looked at when
measuring an organization’s performance through a gap analysis. Clark and Estes (2008)
explained that motivation has three aspects: active choice, persistence and mental effort. The
first of these describes the need to make the choice to act, pursue a goal and follow through, not
just having the intention of doing something (Clark & Estes, 2008). The second describes a
person’s motivation despite competing distractions (Clark & Estes, 2008). The third aspect of
motivation is described as mental effort, which can vary depending on the number of times
ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRANSPARENCY 29
someone has worked through a task as well as whether they have devoted the appropriate amount
of time and energy to the task (Clark & Estes, 2008). This study examined different types of
motivation among CSRPG Electronic Payment Services employees. Specifically, self-efficacy
was examined in terms of whether employees felt they had the power to affect change through
their work. Another type of motivation analyzed was goal orientation. Both types of motivation
were examined through interviews. Motivation is a necessary component in self-efficacy and
goal orientation theory, which was the focus when analyzing employees’ motivation influences.
Self-efficacy theory. Self-efficacy, part of social cognitive theory, is the way one views
one’s own ability to accomplish a goal, task or challenge (Pajares, 2006). Self-efficacy is
fundamental in all human action and initiative, is a necessary component in empowerment and
allows individuals to believe they can accomplish a goal or perform a task (Bandura, 2000).
Self-efficacy empowers the individual and provides confidence in following through and
completing what he/she has set out to do (Pintrich, 2003). This motivation ultimately translates
into an increase in performance (Pintrich, 2003). Furthermore, self-efficacy affects aspects of
motivation like taking initiative, self-regulation and long-term planning to achieve a goal
(Pajares, 2006). Self-efficacy has far-reaching implications regarding human motivation, affects
all aspects of daily function and includes attitude, commitment and psychological effects
(Bandura, 2000). As discussed by Pajares (2006), self-efficacy should not be confused with
outcome expectation. Where self-efficacy describes the act of estimating whether one can
accomplish a task, outcome expectation is the perception or likelihood that one will have a
successful outcome. When self-efficacy and outcome expectations compete in one’s mind, self-
efficacy usually overrules outcome expectation (Pajares, 2006).
ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRANSPARENCY 30
Employee efficacy in promoting transparency. The ability to promote transparency
comes from self-efficacy and the knowledge that one has an impact on the community one
serves. Public workers can be empowered through the knowledge that they have a direct positive
impact on the public they serve. Working in the public sector provides a way for individuals to
become empowered through having a positive impact on their communities (Baroukh & Kleiner,
2002). Another example of self-efficacy is provided by Taylor (2005), who discussed how
individuals who enter the workforce immediately after graduating college can fulfill their need
for self-empowerment through work and tend to seek employment in fields like the public sector.
Here, new graduates’ value systems and self-efficacy directly align with public service. Another
benefits of self-efficacy in being able to serve the public good is increased organizational
performance. Pandey, Wright, and Moynihan (2008) found that public employees who have a
strong sense of public service motivation also show a strong propensity to work with and help
their fellow employees as a team. However, there are many challenges that can counter self-
efficacy and the gains realized from employee empowerment, including political forces and
special interest groups (Brockmyer, 2016).
Goal orientation theory. Goal orientation theory addresses motivation and direction of
an individual by social drivers and is part of social cognition theory, which describes the role
society plays in interacting and driving an individual’s learning and way of thinking (Pintrich,
2003). Goal orientation theory is distinct from other theories because it focuses on why
individuals set goals (Yough & Anderman, 2006). Specifically, the social aspect of achieving
goals is what motivates an individual to select, plan and self-regulate to achieve said goal.
Within goal orientation theory, there are two types of achievement orientation: mastery and
achievement (Pintrich, 2003). A mastery mindset involves being motivated to learn for the sake
ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRANSPARENCY 31
of learning and mastering new skills (Pintrich, 2003). In a performance-based mindset, an
individual is motivated to learn because the individual wants to perform better than other
members in a group (Pintrich, 2003; Yough & Anderman, 2006). These sub-categories of social
cognitive motivators are interchangeable within the individual and can be equally effective in
motivating that individual to complete a goal (Yough & Anderman, 2006). Individuals can have
varying levels of goals that can be either performance-driven or mastery-oriented, depending on
the circumstance (Yough & Anderman, 2006). Individuals are motivated to select, plan for and
follow through on specific goals for the intrinsic value of mastery or because the individual
wants to improve performance on a competitive level.
Employee value for transparency. Employees who work in the public sector show
higher levels of commitment due to their personal values aligning with an organization’s
altruistic mission of providing public service (Herman, Deal, & Ruderman, 2012). Mission-
focused employees have higher levels of job satisfaction and job commitment in comparison to
career-minded employees (Herman et al., 2012). Organizations can improve performance by
creating a work environment that encourages self-efficacy (Kealesitse, O’Mahony, Lloyd-
Walker, & Polonsky, 2013). An example of this is found in improving customer service in the
public sector as discussed by Kealesitse et al. (2013), who showed that focusing on the value
employees receive from working in the public sector aligns directly with their altruistic values.
This intrinsic value can be nurtured through an employee’s increased knowledge regarding
competency and effectiveness in providing public service (Kealesitse et al., 2013). An
organization can foster an atmosphere of learning by increasing communication and allowing for
constructive criticism, leading to personal growth and knowledge (Chughtai & Buckley, 2010).
By facilitating an environment of learning through communication, government employees can
ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRANSPARENCY 32
continue to develop and increase their expertise and become better public servants, reinforced
through increased job satisfaction and productivity.
Table 3 presents the two motivational theories chosen for this study. The first of these
motivational influences is self-efficacy, which pertains to whether employees believe they will
be able to promote transparency through engagement of internal and external stakeholders in
ensuring organizational compliance with the approved budget. Next to this are the motivational
influence assessments that were used to assess self-efficacy and goal orientation.
Table 3
Motivation Influences
Assumed Motivation Influences

Motivational Influence Assessment

Self-Efficacy
Employees need to believe that they can be successful in
promoting transparency and accountability through the
organization’s mandated directive to provide safe and
efficient transit to the region.
Interview item: “How do you feel
about your ability to promote
transparency through public
engagement?”

Goal Orientation
Employees need to value promoting transparency.

Interview item: “Share your goals
in promoting transparency through
public engagement?”

Organizational influences. Organizational influences can either obstruct or positively
influence employee performance. Organizational influences include organizational culture,
policy and procedures and resource capacity (Clark & Estes, 2008). Organizational culture is
described by Schein (2004) as a system of beliefs that have three distinct levels of complexity:
easily observable behaviors, documents, policy and procedures. Furthermore, organizational
culture moves to more complex manifestations that lead to belief systems. Belief systems that
are part of the organizational culture are the most difficult to observe (Schein, 2004). The
different aspects of organizational culture that Schein discusses as interacting with one another
ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRANSPARENCY 33
lend themselves to study. Organizational influences facilitate or hinder organizational
performance either by promoting successful practices and innovation or presenting barriers to
stakeholders both within and outside organizations (Clark & Estes, 2008). Only when there is
alignment among organizational culture, systems, structures and goals can organizational success
be realized (Clark & Estes, 2008).
Organizational influences must be constantly evaluated for an organization to be relevant
to its stakeholders as well as adaptable to ever-changing forces. This evaluation and adaptation
to forces is an iterative process and has been part of several models, including Clark and Estes’
(2008) gap analysis model. A process of self-reflection and reevaluation is necessary to identify
strengths and weaknesses in organizational context that contribute to or hinder performance.
Obstacles and barriers as well as practices in an organizational context may take a structural
form, as discussed by Bolman and Deal (2008), in the form of policy and procedures,
organizational capacity or physical environment. All three forms may help or hinder an
organization’s performance (Bolman & Deal, 2008).
Organizational culture is powerful and systemic in nature, reinforcing members of the
organization and, especially, its leadership while setting an organization’s tone and direction.
According to Morrison and Milliken (2000), there is little success in organizational change
unless there are outside stakeholders demanding change. Within organizational hierarchy,
leadership in the form of middle to front-line managers play an important role in affecting
organizational influences due to their place in the chain of communication (Berger, 2014). This
illustrates the important role that all levels of leadership have in setting the direction of the
organization.
ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRANSPARENCY 34
This study used organizational theory to evaluate promising practices as well as
challenges faced by employees of the CSRPG in promoting transparency. This includes
evaluating how CSRPG Electronic Payment employees overcome organizational obstacles as
well as their behavior and processes that increase transparency. Table 4 lists general
organizational influences on these employees. The first of these organizational influences is how
employees cope with cultural indifference to transparency and engagement of outside
stakeholders. The second organizational influence is how successful employees overcome lack
of trust to promote accountability and increase transparency.
Organizational culture’s influence on performance improvement. This study looked at
how CSRPG Electronic Payment Services employees interact with organizational culture and
how that culture affects their engagement and job performance. Essential sources for this
evaluation were how current efforts provide transparency and the organizational history that led
to this point. This concept of historical and organizational context was discussed by Navarro-
Galera et al. (2017). This type of contextual knowledge is a type of metacognition that should be
demonstrated by employees as they navigate the political and organizational landscape.
Trust within an organization. How an organization culture develops or hinders trust
among employees and external stakeholders such as the public directly impacts how employees
feel they can promote transparency and accountability. This study observed the role that trust
plays between CSRPG Electronic Payment Services employees and internal and external
stakeholders. Because this study consisted of an evaluation, employees must show how they
engage outside stakeholders to engender trust. This concept of trust-building was reinforced by
Siriwardhane and Taylor (2014), who asserted the importance of organizations’ actively
engaging and including outside stakeholders in organizational decision processes. Building trust
ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRANSPARENCY 35
between government employees and stakeholders was discussed by Loi (2016) in highlighting
the strategic importance of an organization’s engaging the public in decision-making. As Araujo
and Tejedo-Romero (2016) discussed, this engagement and inclusion of outside stakeholders
engenders trust and good will towards the organization, allowing it to be more effective in
navigating political and special interests, thus becoming more successful in all aspects of
organizational performance.
Table 4
General Organizational Influences
Assumed Organizational Influences

Organization Influence Assessment
Cultural Model Influence 1:
The CSRPG needs to prioritize
transparency improvement.

Interview questions about resistance to change or
observations on resistance to improving
performance.
Cultural Model Influence 2:
An organization must engage outside
stakeholders to create trust.

Interview staff on whether they trust outsiders’
views regarding organizational performance.
Cultural Setting Influence 1:
Organizations must empower staff to
engage internal and external stakeholders.

Interview questions about not feeling effective at
work.
Cultural Setting Influence 2:
Organizations must employ open
communication between staff and
management.

Interview questions about knowing positive
leaders and role models they can turn to for
improved performance.

Conceptual Framework: The Interaction of Employees’ Knowledge, Motivation and the
Organizational Context
A conceptual framework provides a roadmap to guide and direct research. The
conceptual framework for this study was derived from three sources. These sources are
identified by Maxwell (2013): the researcher’s past experiences in this subject, what was found
ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRANSPARENCY 36
in the literature review and what the research provided. It is important to note that the terms
“conceptual framework” and “theoretical framework” are considered interchangeable within the
literature, with the theoretical term being broader in terms and concepts (Merriam & Tisdell,
2016). Furthermore, Merriam and Tisdell (2016) asserted this theoretical framework concept is
the source for theoretical questions and guides the direction of inquiry. The theoretical
framework for this study drew from my own experiences working in the public sector as well as
stakeholder theory and self-efficacy theory.
Clark and Estes’ (2008) gap analysis model has been used to identify three key areas that
affect employee and organizational performance. These areas are presented as influences and are
identified as knowledge and skills, motivation and organizational. However, these influences do
not act separately, as they interact and influence one another (Clark & Estes, 2008). An
examination of employees’ knowledge and skills revealed these are closely connected to their
motivation as well as directly affected by organizational influences.
Figure 1 illustrates CSRPG Electronic Payment employees’ areas of knowledge, skills,
motivation and organizational influences that interact and mitigate against barriers that might
keep them from achieving their primary goal of increasing transparency. Figure 1 illustrates how
employees operate within the larger organization and rely on leadership to achieve their goal.
Figure 1 also presents organizational and cultural influences in the form of cultural models and
settings. The first of these is the cultural model wherein there is a need for organizations to care
about improving performance. Related to this is the cultural setting where organizations must
empower staff.
The second organizational influence model in Figure 1 represents how an organization
must engage outside stakeholders to create trust. This ties into the cultural setting in that
ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRANSPARENCY 37
organizations must employ positive leadership, which includes open communication between
staff and management. As shown in Figure 1, employees were observed to determine whether
they exhibited practices that allowed them to counter or take advantage of organizational
influences using their knowledge, skills and motivation to reach their goal of increasing
transparency. As discussed by Navarro-Galera et al. (2017), employees must recognize the
organizational culture within which they operate and how this culture can provide barriers to
increasing transparency. Figure 1 shows that conceptual knowledge plays a central role in this
mitigation of organizational barriers to transparency. This includes conceptual knowledge such
as the requirement to remain current on transparency laws. Figure 1 also illustrates the
importance of metacognitive knowledge, including being self-aware of actions and the role they
play in facilitating transparency. Figure 1 also reveals motivational factors which enable
promotion of transparency, such as self-efficacy and goal orientation as primary motivational
drivers.
These influences interact with each other on several levels. At times, organizational
influences may also promote transparency by enabling employees to increase their knowledge,
skills and motivation through self-improvement and professional development. This, in turn,
interacts with the organization by changing its culture, creating an environment open to new
ideas and innovation. This creates a relationship among the three areas as discussed by Clark
and Estes (2008), allowing for an increase in transparency. This relationship is illustrated in
Figure 1 wherein employees work within the larger organization. These employees have
successfully navigated this landscape and demonstrate promising practices in promoting
transparency. The importance of this is highlighted by Bertot et al. (2012) who asserted the
ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRANSPARENCY 38
importance of collaboration between employees and their organizations to embrace transparency
on local and global levels.

Figure 1. CSRPG Electronic Payment Services employees’ areas of knowledge, skills,
motivation and organizational influences.

ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRANSPARENCY 39
PARTICIPATING STAKEHOLDERS: SAMPLING AND RECRUITMENT
The participating stakeholders in this study are employees of the CSRPG Electronic
Payment Services Department. These eight employees come from varying levels of the
department, all of whom closely interact with other CSRPG departments and were chosen for
this study because they have a critical role in the CSRPG officials achieving and maintaining its
organizational goal of continuing transparency. The criterion associated with CSRPG Electronic
Payment employees, in comparison to other CSRPG employees, is the potential to work with and
have an impact on all stakeholders. This includes stakeholders within and outside the
organization. A second important criterion is that these employees have a direct impact on the
public’s perception of organizational transparency. This is a touchpoint for CSRPG officials and
the public, since this stakeholder group directly works with the public and are in many ways the
face of the organization. Because CSRPG Electronic Services employees work directly with the
public, they also have a unique perspective and can offer real-time information to the larger
CSRPG organization which would allow it to respond to customer and outside stakeholder needs
quickly.
Artifact Analysis Sampling Criteria and Rationale
Criterion 1. Artifacts associated with CSRPG Electronic Payment Services employees
from all levels who are a representative sample of CSRPG Electronic Payment Services
employees.
Criterion 2. Artifacts that play an integral part of CSRPG Electronic Payment Services
employees’ ability to promote transparency and accountability.
Criterion 3. Artifacts used by the CSRPG Electronic Payment Services employees that
are solutions to or create challenges in promoting transparency and accountability.
ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRANSPARENCY 40
Artifact Analysis Sampling (Recruitment) Strategy and Rationale
The artifact analysis sampling strategy included obtaining artifacts used by the CSRPG
Electronic Payment employees in their workplace settings. These artifacts provided further
insight to how CSRPG Electronic Payment Services employees are influenced by organizational
policies and procedures. Artifact analysis occurred before the interview phase of this study.
Conducting artifact analysis before interviews may allow new areas of inquiry to be incorporated
within the interview questions. As discussed by Merriam and Tisdell (2016) artifacts are
nonreactive to a study and can provide further insight into research questions or present new
concepts. This aligns with an inductive qualitative study and will lend itself to establishing an
overall understanding and knowledge of CSRPG Electronic Payment employees’ ability to
promote accountability and transparency. What was discovered in this phase of the study
through artifact analysis helped guide and provide a more complete context which will
complement what is discovered in interviews. Artifact analysis will also constitute a holistic
approach through comprehensive sampling (Johnson & Christensen, 2015) where all possible
relevant sources are looked at to obtain data.
Permission was requested to obtain artifacts used by the CSRPG Electronic Payment
employees. Only artifacts approved by the CSRPG Electronic Payment Services management
were used for this study. All identifying information located within or on artifacts were omitted
or redacted. The importance of explaining how a study will benefit an organization is discussed
by Krueger and Casey (2009). The importance of this study and how it will benefit the CSRPG
officials was also explained. This facilitated obtaining permission from CSRPG Electronic
Payment Service Management to analyze artifacts for this study.
ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRANSPARENCY 41
The most appropriate way of obtaining artifacts from the CSRPG Electronic Payment
was to rely on full cooperation from the department. Criteria for artifact selection ensure
selection of artifacts that are used by CSRPG Electronic Payment Services employees from all
levels of the department. Artifacts selected for analysis had a direct role in how CSRPG
Electronic Payment Services employees promote transparency and accountability. Artifacts
chosen for analysis from the CSRPG Electronic Payment Services Department were associated
with employees’ ability to promote transparency and accountability. This allowed for focus on
touchpoints with internal and external stakeholders as well as the ability to cross over the
interview phase of this study and research further phenomena and concepts discovered in initial
artifact analysis.
Interview Sampling Criteria and Rationale
Criterion 1. CSRPG Electronic Payment Services employees who interact with both
internal and external stakeholders.
Criterion 2. CSRPG Electronic Payment Services employees who have been with the
organization long enough to be able to identify and speak about organizational influences or
factors that promote or mitigate against organizational transparency.
Criterion 3. CSRPG Electronic Payment Services employees who can identify
promising practices and barriers to success in promoting transparency and accountability.
Interview Sampling Recruitment Strategy and Rationale
CSRPG Electronic Payment Services employees who have a direct impact on
transparency and accountability within the organization were interviewed. The electronic
payment services department directly interacts with the public and ensures that the region’s
transit service is seamless and efficient. From the electronic payment services department, eight
ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRANSPARENCY 42
employees from different levels were recruited. Eight employees were requested to obtain
saturation of the data. In-depth interviews of these participants are enough to provide qualitative
data to evaluate whether employees are providing transparency. There was limited access to the
number of employees and how much time I could spend with them. This was due to the
organization being a public agency and I would be using the organization’s resources in the
amount of employee time which equated to at least eight hours. Due to limited accessibility to
these employees, this selection process relied on convenience sampling as described by Johnson
and Christensen (2015). Permission was obtained from CSRPG official as well as the employees
themselves who must volunteer.
This study used purposive sampling. This workgroup was chosen for the study because it
is operational in nature and has direct contact with the public and the most influence on
promoting transparency and accountability for the organization. All levels of employees from
the CSRPG Electronic Payment Services Department were drawn from to give a representative
sampling of the entire department. This included interviewing management level, supervisors
and front-line employees of the CSRPG Electronic Payment Services Department. Criteria for
interview participants included choosing participants that interact with internal and external
stakeholders. Employees who have been with the CSRPG Electronic Payment Services for a
year or longer was a third criterion. This allowed for a participant pool that has a work history to
draw upon to provide useful data.
An initial interview with CSRPG Electronic Payment Services management identified
potential participants that would be representative of the entire department. Identified staff were
contacted through email or in person and asked to participate. A detailed explanation of this
study was given as well as rights of the participants. Lastly, the goal of this study was also
ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRANSPARENCY 43
explained to candidates which is to evaluate the CSRPG in how it promotes transparency and
accountability to its stakeholders. Once a candidate decided to participate in the study, a time
and place that was convenient and comfortable for the participant’s interview was set up. In
addition, it was also be explained that this study will look to use what the CSRPG is doing
successfully and try to apply that to other organizations as well as what areas can be improved at
the CSRPG regarding transparency and accountability.
This type of sampling, as discussed by Johnson and Christensen (2015) allows for
effective sampling within a limited population. In this study, participants will provide the richest
data regarding transparency and accountability with internal and external stakeholders because
they interact closely with the public and have the most potential to affect how citizens perceive
their local government. Interview questions were semi-structured to allow for further inquiry if
new concepts or ideas surface during the interviews. Interviews took place after the artifact
analysis, as the artifact analysis may bring up unforeseen questions that can be further researched
during interviews. The interviews were also recorded and transcribed. The importance of
recording interviews is discussed by Merriam and Tisdell (2016), who cited this method as the
most desirable because all data are preserved for further analysis.
Qualitative Data Collection and Instrumentation
Qualitative methods were used for this study. These methods were comprised of
interviews and artifact analysis. By using artifact analysis, this study identified factors that may
help or hinder the achievement of transparency. Artifacts provided an unbiased record that may
provide further insight into how participants are successful or not in accomplishing transparency.
The second method of observation consisted of interviewing employees of the CSRPG
Electronic Payment. The interview questions were designed to address all three research
ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRANSPARENCY 44
questions to look deeper into the three most important factors of influence identified by Clark
and Estes (2008) as knowledge, motivation and organization. These methods provided
information from different sources, which allowed this study to yield a more complete picture of
transparency efforts.
Documents and Artifacts
One identified source of data for this study were documents and artifacts used by
electronic payment department employees. As Merriam and Tisdell (2016) discussed,
documents and artifacts will provide data source that is independent from other forms of research
and potentially provide insight into the focus of this study. Permission was requested with the
understanding that all identifying, confidential or sensitive information would be redacted from
the data. Management of the CSRPG Electronic Payment Services Department had final say
regarding what can be used for this study. A semi-structured document and artifact protocol
(Appendix A) was used to provide guidelines for the document and artifact analysis. This
provided a general guideline for visual and published documents which can take a physical or
digital form.
The first category of artifacts identified to be associated with the CSRPG Electronic
Payment is work rules and departmental policy and procedures. This include a request for
written standards and procedures manual to guide CSRPG Electronic Payment employees,
memos and electronic communication. These may take the form of physical records such as
manuals, bulletin boards and printed schedules. Other documents and systems that are used to
help employees manage workflow and increase efficiencies were also requested to be looked at.
Documents used to ensure a system of check and balances to ensure transparency and
accountability were also identified and requested since they had the potential to provide an
ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRANSPARENCY 45
important source of information. In addition, memoranda of understanding between the CSRPG
Electronic Payment and its employees were requested since they can have a significant impact on
how the CSRPG Electronic Payment operates day to day and achieve its overall mission.
Another category of documents that was identified was business rules can be another
form of artifact that can provide insight to how the CSRPG Electronic Payment works with
outside third-party vendors and consultants. These relationships with third-party vendors and
consultants may also be regulated by federal and state entities in the interest of transparency and
accountability all of which can be seen through document analysis. The CSRPG Electronic
Payment digital media footprint is another important source for document artifact analysis.
Through its digital media presence, the CSRPG Electronic Payment communicates directly with
both internal and external stakeholders regarding performance metrics and accountability and
transparency. Published reports will also provide insight to how the CSRPG Electronic Payment
engages internal and external stakeholders in its effort to achieve its mission.
Interviews
Eight employees from the CSRPG Electronic Payment Services Department were
interviewed. Participant numbers and pseudonyms were not used to identify quoted statements
in this study to protect the anonymity of the participants. This omission was done because of the
potential sensitive nature of discussing transparency and accountability. The participants were
representative of varying positions within the department from upper management level to
operational level position. This allowed for a perspective that represents the entire experience
for CSRPG Electronic Payment Services employees and perspectives were obtained that were
apparent only to within specific positions. The gender of the eight participants for this study
comprised four females and four males. The ethnicity of the eight participants were five
ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRANSPARENCY 46
Caucasian, two Asian, and one Hispanic. The mean number of years for participants working at
the CSPRG was 12 years. The least number of years with the organization was six years and the
highest number of years was twenty-four. The interviews covered all the research questions.
The interviews were conducted at a site close to where the participants work. The reason for this
is that there was limited accessibility to and time constraints for this group (Patton, 2002). In the
interest of confidentiality, a private quiet interview space was utilized. The interviews
themselves were informal in nature. The attire of the interviewer was business casual to reflect
the culture of the CSRPG’s Electronic Payment Services Department.
A semi-structured protocol with open-ended questions was used (Appendix B). This
interview protocol is important, as Patton (2002) discussed, in ensuring that the same concepts
are explored with all participants. The semi-structured open-ended questions allowed the
participants to expand on ideas and concepts that may have not been anticipated by the
researcher. The semi-structure comes from the design of the questions which will address the
three areas of Clark and Estes’ (2008) KMO analysis. Each question focused primarily on one of
these key areas as well as possibly touching or having the potential to also touch on a secondary.
For example, a third of the questions will focus on identifying knowledge influences. However,
it is also important to recognize that these three types of influences, knowledge, motivation and
organization often intersect with each other (Clark & Estes, 2008). This is where open-ended
questions will allow for expansion of possible new ties and concepts related to the other
influences.
Another aspect of the protocol is that there was a limit to the number of questions to
allow for the interview to last no more than an hour. The reason for this is to respect the time of
the participants as well as to not exhaust them (Patton, 2002). The questions were also designed
ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRANSPARENCY 47
to be non-leading and not aim for a yes or no answer. This allowed the participant to answer the
questions in a non-directed way and in a manner that encourages them to provide rich data in
their responses.

ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRANSPARENCY 48
RESULTS AND FINDINGS
This section provides qualitative findings related to the organizational goal. The purpose
of this project was to evaluate whether the CSRPG Electronic Payment Department is meeting its
goal of measuring and increasing customer satisfaction regarding transparency and
accountability by July 1, 2020. This study examined how knowledge, motivation and
organizational factors influenced employees in promoting transparency and accountability.
The following questions guided the study:
1. What are the CSRPG Electronic Payment Employees’ knowledge, skills and motivation
related to promoting transparency and accountability by engaging stakeholders as part of
the CSRPG’s overall effort to promote transparency and accountability?
2. What are the interactions between CSRPG’s organizational culture and context with the
knowledge, skills and motivation of CSRPG Electronic Payment employees?
3. What are the recommendations from studying CSRPG Electronic Payment Employees in
the areas of knowledge and skills, motivation and organizational resources, that may be
appropriate for increasing transparency in other local governments?
Results
The first three questions are addressed in the findings section. The fourth research question is
addressed in the recommendations section. Qualitative data were gathered through interviews.
Seven of the eight participants were interviewed in private on site. The eighth participant was
interviewed over the phone. All interviews were digitally recorded with the participants’
permission. The recordings were then professionally transcribed. All individual identifying
information was omitted from this study to protect the participants’ identities. Participants were
ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRANSPARENCY 49
also offered a copy of their interview to review for content. Due to the sensitive nature of this
study, no identifiable factors were disclosed.
Knowledge Results and Findings
CSRPG Electronic Payment Services employees were found to have knowledge of
current transparency laws but also had to balance the need for transparency and accountability
with working in an operational environment. These employees also demonstrated metacognitive
knowledge of how they directly impacted the public’s perception of transparency and
accountability for their organization. The need for transparency and accountability to be
balanced with the need to also protect the public’s rights to privacy was also discussed.
Employees have robust knowledge of current transparency laws as well as a need to
balance these concepts with an operational environment’s priorities. CSRPG Electronic
Payment Services employees believe that transparency and accountability are an integral part of
their role to serve the public responsibly. All participants spoke about concepts of transparency
and accountability as important to serving the public as well as concepts shared by all
employees: “I think there's a lot of people here who are very much dedicated to public service.”
Here the participant described how dedication to the public for her brings up the question of
opportunity costs and whether the organization is spending the public’s money in the most
effective way possible.
A commitment to transparency and accountability was also described by participants as a
core value of the CSRPG. Transparency and accountability have been a part of the
organization’s value system from its founding and is mandated as part of its mission. This
mandate comes from the voting public as well as partner agencies that serve the region. One
participant explained how transparency and accountability are core values of the CSRPG: “The
ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRANSPARENCY 50
law mandates what we as an organization can and should provide to the public.” This is in
reference to how the CSRPG is mandated by the State to be transparent and accountable which is
an intrinsic part of the organization and may not always be at the forefront of employees’ minds
but always important.
Employees must also remain informed on ever-changing technology that directly affects
how business is conducted. One participant attributed the drive for change to a response to the
CSRPG’s leadership role in the region in terms of adopting new technology: “The CSRPG’s
projects are cutting edge and we as employees have to constantly learn to make these cutting-
edge projects a success.” This role is a result of the organization’s function and mandate to
coordinate transit services within the region, which includes being at the forefront of adopting
new technology to benefit its customers and partner agencies.
The realities of working in an operational environment and the need to balance ideals
with limited resources and constraints were also discussed. Participants described the need to
keep working, balancing resources and using public funds responsibly:
It is always going to be a resource issue. Do you have the staff? Do you have the funding
to make it work? Even with something like making phone services available in different
languages, is there demand for this type of service?
This operational environment contrasts with other departments of the CSRPG which are not
operational in nature but use more theoretical and academic modes. This difference between
operational and academic modes of operating was described by one participant: “Other
departments in our organization are looking towards the horizon. This type of thinking is
academic from our department’s perspective where we are trying to put fires out.” Here, the
ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRANSPARENCY 51
realities of working in an operational environment contrast with the rest of the organization that
focuses on planning.
Employees demonstrated metacognitive knowledge of the importance of their role in
promoting transparency and accountability. All participants discussed how they made a
positive difference in the lives of people and contributed to the public good: “I knew from grad
school that I wanted to make a difference and work for the public good and influence public
policy.” Here the participant discussed the immediate realization of how much a direct positive
impact one has and how this can have a positive influence on the way the public perceives an
organization as being transparent and accountable. This metacognitive knowledge also included
a sense of advocacy for the public:
People who come to work here want to work to serve the public. Employees here tend to
be very thoughtful and highly educated. This thoughtfulness and dedication are also
reflected through a lot of employees being involved with advocacy groups that want to
improve cities and transportation.
Participants also discussed the importance of working towards meaningful performance metrics
and not just outputs: “you don't want an output; you don't want work product at any cost.” Here
the participant talked about the importance of taking stakeholder input but also the importance of
the organization not being reactive and making changings to improve performance. Participants
also discussed how the department plays an important role within the larger organization and
aligns with the CSRPG’s overall mission: “I don't think we have a disruptive impact on the
agency. Our department’s goal and mission fit in with the rest of the organization.” Awareness
of providing consistency and seamless operation of electronic payment programs as a metric of
accountability for the customer was also discussed as an important. Consistency was described
ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRANSPARENCY 52
as a component of transparency and accountability: “There are some policy initiatives that we
need to grapple with, but the overall picture of the agency is that it needs to operate
consistently.” The operational nature of this workgroup and its priority to provide the public the
most convenient service is the most important performance measure of accountability. The
CSRPG Electronic Payment Services customer expects a seamless and convenient payment
program: “there are the millions of account holders who do not care. They just want their card to
work.” Here the participant describes two types of audiences: “One audience is concerned with
policy, and the other is concerned with reliable and seamless service, which is what the public
and partner agencies demand.” This awareness of what the public’s priority and what it
perceives is an aspect of transparency and accountability demonstrates metacognitive knowledge
of how the CSRPG’s actions are perceived by the public.
Participants also demonstrated metacognitive knowledge of their role in engaging all
stakeholders. This is done through public engagement and soliciting feedback from stakeholders
in different ways. This feedback is then incorporated and directly affects policy: “we try to take
public input and respond to it and try to determine to what extent that’s reflective of the public as
a whole and more than just one single person.” A concern discussed by participants was not
going through the motions and just following through procedures and process of soliciting
stakeholder input but to be responsive to input that is in alignment with the organization’s
mission and provide the most benefit: “We do public outreach, comment periods, and state
quarter coordination, all these things are supposed to promote transparency and accountability. I
often think about whether we take this feedback and make changes or just continue our course of
action no matter what the public says.” This response by the Participant demonstrated
metacognitive knowledge through the awareness of whether the public is being listened to and
ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRANSPARENCY 53
whether the organization is just going through the motions and doing what it wants despite the
feedback from the public.
Employees balance transparency and accountability with being responsive and
protecting stakeholder’s rights. Employees work in an environment with set procedures to
ensure consistency and a high standard for their work product. One theme that surfaced was that,
because the CSRPG has matured and grown as an organization, procedures and the knowledge
related to them have become a daily aspect of employees’ work lives. The organization became
more complex, as described by one individual: “This organization was completely different from
how it was twenty years ago. It was smaller and was driven more by individual personalities.
whereas now, with a larger organization, there a lot more processes put in place.” Here, the
participant talked about the need for employees and the organization to be systematic in
developing performance measures versus letting an individual manager work individually. This
example of the CSRPG’s evolution to a more complex organization shows the CSRPG’s need for
a system that promotes consistency and mission alignment regarding performance measurement,
reporting which is directly tied into being transparent but also adapting to the complexity of
demands which include competing priorities such as protecting customer information.
The benefits of procedures and procedural knowledge were acknowledged with the
caveat that too many procedures could also lead to more bureaucracy that causes the organization
to react slowly. One participant described the amount of work that goes into compliance and of
which the public is not aware: “We’re complying with all these laws. It would be nice if we
were just more of an efficient government. The challenge for our organization is the huge
bureaucratic load required for us to accomplish anything.”
ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRANSPARENCY 54
Other forms of procedural knowledge involve protecting customer information. Because
of legal constraints in place to protect the consumer, the CSRPG must balance providing
information and being transparent with protecting customer information. This balance becomes
even more complicated from the public’s perspective. What may appear as non-transparency
and accountability may be a result of protecting customer data. Because the systems employed
are complex and involve multiple factors, what may appear to be a simple request for
information by a customer must also be examined at different levels. The CSRPG employs a
legal department to conduct due diligence and ensure customers are protected and all obligations
to partner agencies are met. This balancing act of transparency and accountability with
protecting customer information was described by one participant:
It is our role to be the steward of the public’s personal information and not allowing any
kind of information to be released without strict scrutiny. This is something that the public may
not realize. We must make sure that all our staff are not inadvertently realizing information that
we should not.
Here, the participant described a daily problem of balancing the needs of all stakeholders, which
includes protecting personal information, with promoting transparency and accountability.
Motivation Results and Findings
This study found that participants demonstrated a mastery orientation regarding
promoting transparency and accountability. Participants also showed that they had self-efficacy
on a department level when it came to ask for professional development and having a positive
impact. However, participants also felt that they did not have as much a direct impact on an
organizational level.
ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRANSPARENCY 55
Employees demonstrated a mastery orientation about promoting transparency.
Participants discussed serving the public and the responsibility that comes with that as a source
of pride and motivation. This altruism from serving the public was described as, “Our
organization inherently attracts people who want to do good, make improvements and serve the
public.” This sentiment by participants expressing the inherent good in serving the public was a
recurring theme across all interviews. One participant discussed how working in government
and non-profits provided more intrinsic reward in comparison to working in the private sector, “I
have realized from my experience in working for a public agency as well as nonprofits that I am
ultimately contributing to the larger good.” These results showed that the participants placed a
high value on promoting transparency and accountability. However, it is also important to note
that participants discussed time and resource constraints due to the operational nature of this
workgroup’s department. One participant described the reality of working in an operational
environment for a public agency where one must balance best practices with constraints on time
and resources: “It still must be on time, on budget and excellent work and, by the way, I want
you to be developing all your staff. Show me a measurable difference in their performance or
abilities or professional development.” The operational nature of this workgroup places time and
resource constraints on actively promoting transparency and accountability.
Participants exhibited master orientation by caring about how their roles contribute to
transparency and accountability, which is an integral part of the organization’s mission and
culture: “we have a lot of brilliant people here and they just make things happen because they're
brilliant.” Another participant went further to describe how the CSRPG’s employees are driven:
ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRANSPARENCY 56
There's a lot of people here that are high performers. Lots of talented people, lots of
smart people. There isn't a whole lot of people in this organization who would be happy
just being told what to do and how to do it and then just go do it.
This mastery orientation by employees is described as a common trait among the employees:
I will say that at the CSRPG we have a wonderful culture of professionals. We have a lot
of people who want to know everything about planning and are in the country on
planning initiatives. They are very self-motivated, driven people who keep that bar high.
Mastery orientation was evident from interviewing all the participants who described a work
culture that strived to be experts in their field as well as an awareness that they must perform at
the highest standard.
Employees demonstrated a high level of self-efficacy. All participants provided
examples of self-efficacy. All participants felt that they were able to have a direct positive
impact in the Electronic Payment Services department. However, their self-efficacy was
influenced greatly by the organization. On a large organizational scale, few participants felt that
they had a direct impact or influence on the organization: “there’s not really this open door that
says we're looking for ways of doing things different.” Another participant discussed how to
work around this barrier to communication by sharing ideas with immediate management, “If
you're talking about a project, I could always talk to a manager or a team by saying this is an idea
on how to do the project.”
In direct contrast, many participants felt self-efficacious on a departmental level.
Participants in this workgroup felt that they had a direct positive impact regarding transparency
and accountability within their department. One participant described how important it was for
employees to gain self-efficacy through learning and networking: “Even when times are tight, I
ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRANSPARENCY 57
feel like we have the money to send people to conferences.” The participant discussed how there
was an exchange of ideas through participating in these conferences, which benefit employees.
Participants felt comfortable asking for additional training. When asked if there are
barriers to training one participant responded, “If you are self-motivated, you can go. You can
ask and you can probably get it.” All participants exhibited self-efficacy in asking for
professional development. Participants also discussed how high performance was expected of
them, which was a constant source of motivation. However, participants also acknowledged the
practicalities of working in an operational environment with priorities of accomplishing tasks
efficiently with high standards for their work product.
Organization Influence Results and Findings
This study revealed that an organizational culture existed that places value on
transparency and accountability with a commitment to the public it serves. There was also an
organizational culture that promoted engaging internal and external stakeholders and a
commitment to not just engage but to be inclusive of stakeholder input. There was also a
difference in organizational culture on a higher level in comparison to a department level which
included management and communication styles.
Organizational culture values transparency and accountability and a responsibility
to the public. The CSRPG organization is, by design, a government agency required to abide by
federal, state, local government and voter mandates. Because of this, transparency and
accountability to external stakeholders are required and essential. The CSRPG must be
responsive to stakeholders and ensure that the public’s best interests are served. One participant
described the importance of transparency and accountability within the organizational culture:
ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRANSPARENCY 58
“in terms of our executive team and down, there is a culture of being transparent and
accountable.”
The importance of reaching out to transit agencies and working closely together as
partners was discussed as a way of being more effective and inclusive: “The transit agencies do
not view themselves as customers, so to speak, as much as partners.” This relationship dynamic
is important because it shows that the CSRPG is inclusive and views its relationship with other
agencies as partnerships, which ties into transparency and accountability. Participants also
described the importance of public accessibility to public meetings: “We would meet with
government agencies from the entire state, for these monthly meetings and talking about the
accessibility of public meetings.” Interviewees mentioned inclusiveness along with engaging the
public and partner agencies, all of which had equal importance to participants.
The CSRPG engaged outside stakeholders to create trust and follow-through. This
public engagement comes in forms such as public hearings and online surveys. In addition to
this, the CSRPG includes partner agencies in decision-making. All interview participants
provided examples of how the CSRPG engaged stakeholders. Participants also provided
examples of how their department engaged outside stakeholders regularly. All participants
described a culture of public and stakeholder engagement. Participants were also aware of the
importance taking feedback from outside stakeholders into consideration and implementing it.
In addition, providing meaningful information the public was also described as important. A
participant described how public access to agency meetings is deemed important but she also
looked deeper to see if the information provided to the public was relevant: “A few days before
the meeting, I read my memo and try to see what this means the average citizen.” The
ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRANSPARENCY 59
participant is aware of the need for stakeholder outreach and that this outreach must be
meaningful to the stakeholder to be effective.
Participants were comfortable asking for self-development but described barriers.
Participants felt more comfortable asking for training and professional development on a
departmental level, but they also discussed the practical limitations to doing this in an
operational environment: “I think there is a little bit of old school skepticism about how much
training is really necessary.” Other participants provided examples of efforts to provide more
structured employee development opportunities. Participants described management training for
new supervisors. One participant provided a positive example of training: “I did management
training which felt like a crash course in their business school. I came back really inspired.” In
this example, the participant expressed a counter opinion to what most other participants
expressed.
Another participant described how the information technology department had been
trying to offer more training for employees: “In the last few years, IT has really tried to ramp up
the offerings of internal classes and training.” Most professional development opportunities had
to be requested, but management training is offered to all newly promoted managers.
Participants described an organization moving towards more structured training. This must also
be reconciled with the operational nature of the department, which there is not always time for
further training. That said, the subculture of the electronic payments department is collegial and
collaborative. One participant described feeling comfortable asking for professional
development while reconciling this with the department’s needs and capacity: “Culturally, I
would say you are on your own when asking for professional development and must always
remember that you must get your regular work done.”
ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRANSPARENCY 60
The participant admits there is some skepticism regarding how much training one really needs
considering the workload that must be accomplished and prioritized. This reality comes from
working in the CSRPG Electronic Payment Services Department, which is operational in nature.
The organization employs a command and control management style. There is a
difference in culture between the CSRPG as an organization and the CSRPG Electronic Payment
Services Department. The latter has a more inclusive and collaborative environment. One
participant discussed how information flows overall in the CSRPG from the top down: “there's a
very strong top down culture here.” Here the participant is referring to how the CSPRG in some
ways still operates in a hierarchical structure. A different participant also compared the
difference in management and communication style between the larger CSRPG organization and
the CSRPG Electronic Payment Services Department: “our department is very different from the
larger organization. My department works well, which is much different from the larger
organization that does not provide enough information.” Another participant provided a
different assessment on the organization’s management and communication style: “Being able to
communicate effectively verbally and through in writing is very important. I think, our agency's
style has traditionally been a less hierarchical organization. I would say we are collaborative.”
One participant discussed adapting communication style, type and even length of communication
to fit the situation:
I adapt the level of my communication to fit the needs of the situation. If a person needs
a certain level of information, I make sure that I meet that expectation and provide the
level of detail that is needed. If the individual holds a higher position, then most likely
this person will need high-level information.
ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRANSPARENCY 61
This example shows the participant is adaptable in providing varying levels of
information and communication styles to effectively communicate.
Participants also acknowledged that a silo culture still exists to a certain extent. One
participant described the CSRPG’s silo culture: “Other divisions, they're silos. We're very
siloed.” The participant then went on to provide the reason for this silo structure as a result of
the operational function of the Electronic Payment Services Department which is in direct
contrast to the rest of the organization which is an organization of planners. Furthermore, there
is no incentive for this to change if the Electronic Payment Services department keeps the
revenue flowing: “My department is operations-based. We just bring in the money and make
everyone happy.” This complacency of not trying to break these silos within the organization
appears to be on both sides: “This probably contributes to why I am not very involved in what is
going on with the planning group.” Interview participants felt there was alignment in
communication goals between the CSRPG and its electronic payment division. Communication
alignment reflected an alignment of mission goals at a departmental and organizational level.
One participant described this alignment:
In terms of the larger how our group fits in with CSRPG in general, I feel that is the case.
Every organization has its cultural norms. I think that we try and act for the public good
and be transparent and give people information. I think that at least I feel like my
communication style fits in with that.
These two communication styles reflect an organization that uses different types of
communication styles. This necessity for adaptability in using both structured and collaborative
forms of communication is also reflected in the increased need for written formal processes and
procedures. This increase in bureaucracy is a result of the CSRPG becoming a larger
ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRANSPARENCY 62
organization required to ensure consistency and a high-quality work product. However, the
organization is trying to move away from command and control and move towards a
management and communication style that is more collaborative and inclusive. The CSRPG’s
partner agencies and the public’s demand for transparency and accountability require employee
procedures which increases the time needed for processes to conclude.
Artifact Analysis
There was limited access to documents pertaining to the CSRPG Electronic Payment
Services Department. After initially agreeing to provide access, the CSRPG did not respond to
numerous follow-up requests for information. Because of this, only the CSRPG’s website and
the electronic payment services department’s web site were examined. Even with this limitation,
these websites provided information for this analysis.
Organizational Influences’ Results and Findings
An extensive CSRG website provides the public general information but needs to go
further in providing more detailed information associated with transparency and
accountability. The CSRPG’s website allows the public to access the organization’s divisions
easily. Because the CSRPG’s complex structure, there is a challenge in presenting this
information in an accessible format. There are tools on the site for accessing information, such
as the CSRPG’s Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR). This report provides
information on the organization’s financial status. However, I was unable to locate the
organization’s approved budget, which is a standard government agency publication. Although
providing a CAFR provides transparency and accountability on how public money was spent in
the past, a budget is a forward-looking document that presents how a money will be spent in the
future. A budget should be as easy to find as the CAFR. These two different publications are
ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRANSPARENCY 63
essential in transparency and accountability. In addition, upon further research, I was unable to
access executive reports although the website listed them as available. This type of information
should be easily available to the average citizen.
The CSRPG also provides performance indicators in an accessible format and which tie
into the organization’s public engagement plan. This plan is mandated by the federal
government. In addition to this, the site provides a link to a monthly report on performance
metrics. Upon further research, I was not able to find this specific monthly report and supporting
performance metrics. However, the rest of the website does provide extensive research tools and
an open data research library search function.
The CSRPG’s Electronic Payments Department also has websites for its programs.
Customers can access specific program websites to obtain information and access their personal
accounts, which allow customers to access information and engage the organization.
Transparency and accountability are promoted by engaging the public and providing a platform
for feedback to the organization.
The CSRPG has a public participation plan available on its website. This participation
plan outlines federally mandated performance measures and a commitment to public
engagement. The participation plan demonstrates a commitment to public engagement and
provides a roadmap. It also outlines the methods used to reach the public as well as a plan to
ensure inclusiveness for underserved stakeholders. This communication plan is thorough and
addresses defined performance indicators outlined by the federal government.
Summary of Results and Findings
CSRPG Electronic Payment Services Department employees demonstrate the necessary
core values of transparency and accountability. The department can meet its goal of increasing
ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRANSPARENCY 64
customer satisfaction as a performance measurement by July 1, 2020. Participants demonstrated
conceptual, metacognitive and procedural knowledge to promote transparency and
accountability. They demonstrated self-efficacy dependent on the context of a larger
organization level in comparison to the department level. All participants felt comfortable
asking for additional training and professional development. However, all discussed the
operational nature of their workgroup and balancing training and professional development with
completing work, time constraints and limited resources.
Participants described the CSRPG as an organization that has evolved over the last 20
years into a larger and more bureaucratic agency. The need for transparency and accountability
in a larger organization increased the number of processes required to ensure consistency and
quality. These processes ensure transparency and accountability but also contribute to the length
of time required to react and respond to stakeholder input. The organization has an informal
process in employee development. However, participants also described efforts to change this
by adding structured training for employees.
The CSRPG and electronic payment programs actively engage internal and external
stakeholders. Engagement of external stakeholders includes interactive websites. The CSRPG’s
website allows stakeholders to access important documents such as its public engagement plan.
However, there were gaps in this information in that its budget and full executive reports were
unavailable. Participants also described a command and control culture from a larger
organizational level as compared to a more collaborative and inclusive department culture.
There was a marked difference in organizational culture between the larger organization
and the electronic payment services department. Part of this difference comes from the
operational nature of the department. Because the CSRPG as an entire organization has grown
ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRANSPARENCY 65
substantially over the last 20 years, it is evolving and striving to adopt best practices.
Nonetheless, the organization still exhibits some forms of command and control management
and communication styles. This contrasts with the electronic payment services department,
which is more collaborative and collegial in culture. In addition to this, the CSRPG is still in
many ways a siloed organization. This is a natural outcome of the specificity of each division.
The CSRPG recognizes this and is making efforts to change this. Participants recognized that
the culture of their department promoted employee self-development. However, the operational
nature of the department and factors such as limited time, resources and being able to justify
spending on training or self-development must always be reconciled with the organization’s
overall mission to serve the public and local governments responsibly and equitably.
Recommendations for Practice
Knowledge Recommendations
The assumed conceptual, metacognitive and procedural knowledge influences are shown
in Table 5. Each has its own influence on how CSRPG Electronic Payment Services Department
employees learn. As shown in Table 5, conceptual knowledge is the most influential, followed
by metacognitive and procedural. Table 5 also shows whether each of these types of knowledge
influences were validated and if not, whether there was a probability of finding each knowledge
influence in this study. In addition, the theoretical principle of each knowledge influence and
context-specific recommendation are presented in Table 5.

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Table 5
Summary of Knowledge Influences and Recommendations
Knowledge Influence

Principle and Citation Context-Specific
Recommendation
Employees need
knowledge of current
transparency laws to be
able to better serve the
public, increase efficiency
and protect the
organization from risk.
(C)

Information allows people to
bridge new knowledge with
an established body of
conceptual knowledge to
complete a goal (Clark &
Estes, 2008).

Provide a pamphlet containing
updated information on
transparency laws that apply to
public employees.
Employees need to be
aware of how their actions
are perceived by the
public. (M)

Metacognition has a
significant positive influence
in an individual’s learning
(George & Kappan, 2011).

Education: Provide professional
development opportunities,
counseling and planning for
Controller’s Office employees to
become self-aware of how their
actions are perceived by the
public.
Employees must know
how to engage the entire
organization and role in
promoting transparency
and accountability. (P)

Job Aids help employees
accomplish procedural tasks
when they already have
knowledge and experience
in an area and do not need to
be managed closely (Clark
& Estes, 2008).

Job Aid: Provide a job aid in the
form of a matrix that contains the
steps to accomplish different
departmental tasks to achieve
transparency and accountability.

Expand conceptual knowledge of transparency and accountability. The interviews
revealed that participants were aware of the concepts of transparency and accountability, but also
discussed operational realities and limited resources, which took priority. As discussed by Clark
and Estes (2008), information allows people to bridge new knowledge with an established body
of conceptual knowledge to complete a goal. A pamphlet will help update employees on
transparency laws that apply to public employees.
ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRANSPARENCY 67
A study by Leppänen, Hopsu, Klemola and Kuosma (2008) showed the role of
conceptual knowledge in a multi-level strategy for improving employee performance. The
participants’ mastery of conceptual knowledge was measured before and after professional
training and working in teams focused on analysis and development. The study found
employees who had the lowest levels of conceptual work knowledge benefited the most from
work process development. In addition, conceptual knowledge of work process was a valuable
indicator of actual work performance as well as part of a comprehensive approach to
performance measurement. Conceptual knowledge is enhanced by providing information that
can bridge new knowledge and existing knowledge.
Support self-reflective practice through professional development. Clark (2012)
described metacognition as an important part of self-regulation and formative assessment for
learning. Clark’s meta-analysis of literature showed that a learner’s self-awareness in the form
of metacognition and self-regulation allowed for immediate feedback and the ability to adjust
learning strategy. Furthermore, this self-regulation, which is achieved through formative self-
evaluation, leads to greater autonomy in learning. This, in turn, leads to a higher success rate
and knowledge achievement (Clark, 2012). Metacognitive knowledge allows employees to be
aware and adjust towards achieving success.
The data showed employees were aware of how their actions were perceived by the
public, but they also discussed the need for more professional development. Metacognition has a
significant positive influence on an individual’s learning (George & Kappan, 2011). CSRPG
Electronic Payment Services Department employees need professional development
opportunities, counseling and planning.

ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRANSPARENCY 68
Motivation Recommendations
Introduction. Motivation is a second area of influence shown in table 6. This study
identified and focused on two types of motivation influences which include self-efficacy and
goal orientation. Table 6 also shows whether these two motivation influencers were validated or
not within this study. Looking at self-efficacy theory, Pajares (2006) has shown that feedback
modeling has increased self-efficacy. Goal orientation theory is discussed by Yough and
Anderman (2006) as being distinct from other motivation theories because it focuses on why
individuals set goals. In addition to this, the associated principles and recommendations are also
presented in table 6.
Table 6
Summary of Motivation Influences and Recommendations
Motivation Influence

Principle and Citation Context-Specific
Recommendation
Employees need to believe
that they can be successful in
promoting transparency and
accountability through the
organization’s mandated
directive to provide safe and
efficient transit to the region.
(SE).
Feedback and
modeling increase self-
efficacy (Pajares,
2006).
Set short term goals
of increasing
customer satisfaction
performance
indicators, regarding
transparency and
accountability, that
are achievable but
challenging with
scaffolding and
targeted feedback
early in process.
Employees need to value
promoting transparency.
(GOT).
Goal orientation theory
is distinct from other
theories because it
focuses on why
individuals set goals
(Yough & Anderman,
2006).
Empower employees
to set transparency
“SMART” goals that
are performance
measurable for 90
days.

ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRANSPARENCY 69
Self-efficacy theory. The data showed that CSRPG Electronic Payment Services
employees believe that they can be successful in promoting transparency and accountability
within their organization. As discussed by Pajares (2006), feedback and modeling increase self-
efficacy. To be able to meet the goal of showing an increase in customer satisfaction
performance indicators, regarding transparency and accountability, CSRPG Electronic Payment
Services employees can set short term goals that are achievable, and scaffolding in the early
process.
Modeling and short-term goals are discussed in a study by Ge and Hardre (2010), who
looked at two groups of graduate students’ motivation, which was positively influenced through
peer support, modeling and short and long-term goal setting. This qualitative study employed
observations and interviews to evaluate how graduate students developed new knowledge and
expertise. Ge and Hardre (2010) concluded that students learned by modeling on successful
examples and built upon their existing knowledge. A large part of this learning process involved
feedback which allowed the students to make real time adjustments in order to adapt their
learning to be more successful. The essential role of confidence building is also discussed by Ge
and Hardre (2010) in which peer feedback provide self-confidence and validation. This study
revealed that the learning environment and the student’s self-perception have a deciding
influence on learning outcomes. This ties in increasing the self-efficacy of CSRPG Electronic
Payment Services employees through modeling in the form of scaffolding and providing
feedback which will increase confidence and motivation in knowledge building.
Goal Orientation Theory
The data showed CSRPG Electronic Payment Services employees demonstrated a
mastery orientation regarding promoting transparency and accountability. As discussed by
ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRANSPARENCY 70
Yough and Anderman (2006), goal orientation theory is distinct from other theories because it
focuses on why individuals set goals. The CSRPG needs to set short-term SMART performance
goals for its staff that are measurable after ninety days. As discussed by Haughey (2018).
SMART goals is a framework which provides the user to define goals in a more comprehensive
way. These goals vary and can be modified for a specific situation but generally mean: S-
specific, M-measurable, A=agreed upon, T- time based (Haughey, 2013).
The role middle managers play in influencing goal orientation is addressed in a study by
Rysavy (2015). This study looked at the impact mid-level IT managers within a research
university had on employee goal setting during performance interviews. As Rysavy (2015)
discussed, organizations can utilize the knowledge of managers to help the employees they
supervise realize goal orientation. In addition to this, framing goal orientation around learning
was also seen as more effective. This also ties into Senko and Dawson’s (2017) meta-analysis
on goal orientation which found that success depended on the reason why students set goals. As
Senko and Dawson (2017) discussed, goal orientation could have a negative outcome if it is
based on the sake of appearances in contrast to a goal orientation that is based on peer
competition. This is in alignment with Electronic Payment Services employees setting work
goals that are in alignment with the CSRPG’s organizational goals of increasing transparency
and accountability. This can be facilitated by management in the form of SMART goals which
allow for measurable improvements in performance.
Organizational Recommendations
The third area of influence on participants is organization. Presented in Table 7 are three
organization influences. The first of these organization influences is a cultural model of the
CSRPG showing where transparency needs to be improved. Developing an organization’s
ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRANSPARENCY 71
communication capability builds capacity (Fix & Sias, 2006). Taking this into account, creating
formal and informal channels of communication will improve transparency. To address another
organization influence, the CSRPG must engage outside stakeholders. In addition, Table 7
presents a cultural setting that empowers employees. Table 7 also presents whether these
influences were validated through this study and, if not, the probability of doing so. Each of
these three organization influences have a high priority.
Table 7
Summary of Organization Influences and Recommendations
Organization
Influence
Principle and Citation

Context-Specific
Recommendation

The CSRPG needs
to prioritize
transparency
improvement.
(CM)
"Effective leaders know how to build
strong communication skills among
members of an organization to build
capacity.
(Fix, & Sias, 2006)
Create formal and informal
channels of communication that
Identify organizational
influences that influence
prioritizing and improving
transparency and accountability.
An organization
must engage
outside
stakeholders to
create trust. (CM)

"Leaders are more accountable when
accountability is framed both
internally and externally and takes
many forms; including bureaucratic
accountability, professional
accountability and market
accountability. Accountability is
contextually defined (Hentschke &
Wohlstetter, 2004)
Provide a system that allows
direct stakeholder feedback that
employees can access to make
real-time adjustments to
enhance learning and job
performance through trust-
building.
Organizations must
empower staff to
engage internal and
external
stakeholders. (CS)

Learning tasks that are familiar to an
individual’s cultural settings will
facilitate learning (Gallimore &
Goldenberg, 2001).
Reach out and meet with
organizations both public and in
other sectors in the area that
have met similar challenges and
have shown success in
empowering staff to engage
stakeholders.

ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRANSPARENCY 72
Open lines of communication between employees and management. The interviews
revealed a distinct difference in communication styles between the department and the rest of the
organization. CSRPG managers need to create formal and informal channels of communication.
Specifically, this means to promote a communication style that is collaborative and inclusive as
well as one that is dialectic which allows information to flow in both directions. This is in direct
contrast to a command and control style of communication where communication flows in one
direction. Corporate social responsibility has been used to align with outside stakeholders’
values and with employees within the organization (Mory & Göttel, 2017). A comprehensive
Corporate social responsibility program has a positive impact on employees and their
commitment to an organization’s goals. This supports the need for the CSRPG Electronic
Payment Services Department to identify organizational influences which will help staff align
themselves with these social responsibility goals.
Provide more relevant documents online to engage and measure public engagement.
The CSRPG’s website lacked information that would promote transparency and accountability.
The recommendation is to provide more financial information on the website and to engage the
public through online feedback. Also, it is necessary to track the type of information accessed
and the rate at which it is accessed. With this information, employees can make real-time
adjustments to enhance learning and job performance through trust-building.
Gorski, Obeysekare, Yarnal, and Mehta (2015) examined the creation of a culture of
responsibility based on the needs of outside stakeholders. As Gorski and colleagues discussed, it
is not enough to want to serve outside stakeholders. The authors investigated the conceptual
framework around engagement review boards for suitability in other academic applications to
ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRANSPARENCY 73
strengthen engagement. The CSRPG Electronic Payment Services Department can use a similar
framework to outline how it engages, protects and serves outside stakeholders.
Increase internal communication and engagement between departments. Interviews
revealed that the CSRPG’s organization is siloed in structure, which prevents communication
and collaboration between departments. Management must meet with public and non-public
organizations that have met similar challenges and have shown success in empowering staff to
engage other departments.
Cross sector collaboration is discussed by Cankar and Petkovsek (2013) as a way for the
public sector to access to innovation and creativity that occurs in the private sector. This
exchange of ideas and best practices can help the public sector solve problems and increase
sustainability. There are many types of problems that are difficult for one organization or sector
to address but could be solved with the help of other types of organizations and disciplines
(Cankar & Petjovsek, 2013). The CSRPG Electronic Payment Services Department can look at
how other organizations, disciplines and stakeholders empower staff to improve communication
between departments and subsequently increase transparency and accountability.
Program. To achieve the highest-level result, the following internal indicators will need
to be achieved: increase employee engagement with other departments, increase awareness of
employees’ role in promoting transparency and accountability and survey customers about
transparency and accountability. This will lead to the following external indicators being
achieved: an increase in public trust of the overall organization, an increase of overall citizen
engagement and satisfaction, an increase in diversity of public engagement and an increase in
responsiveness to citizen input.
ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRANSPARENCY 74
Achieving these internal leading indicators requires the following critical behaviors:
employees actively communicating with other departments, having more structured opportunities
for professional development and actively engaging the public. The organization and the
department will then need to measure the level and types of public engagement taking place.
These necessary behaviors will be driven by the following drivers: a pamphlet containing
updated information on transparency laws that apply to public employees, structured professional
development opportunities, counseling and planning on how employees’ actions are perceived by
the public and a job aid in the form of a matrix that contains the steps to accomplish different
departmental tasks to achieve transparency and accountability regarding customer engagement.
In addition, short-term goals should be to incorporate new performance metrics related to
transparency and accountability with the existing public engagement outreach plan. This goal
should be achievable but challenging and both scaffolding and targeted feedback should be
provided early in the process.
Organizational leaders must meet with public and private organizations that have met
similar challenges and have empowered staff to engage stakeholders. Employees must be
empowered to set SMART goals for 90 days. By setting SMART goals, employees can meet
performance targets (Haughey,2018). Formal and informal channels of communication must
identify organizational influences on prioritizing and improving transparency and accountability.
A system must be developed to allow direct stakeholder feedback that employees can access to
make real-time adjustments to job performance through trust-building.
For the CSRPG Electronic Payment Services employees to acquire the necessary
knowledge, skills and motivation to bring about the critical behaviors, the following program is
recommended. This training program will examine the impact of department policies and
ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRANSPARENCY 75
procedures on employees’ ability to interact and communicate with the rest of the organization
and the public. In addition, the program will focus on employees’ role in promoting
transparency and accountability within the organization.
ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRANSPARENCY 76
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ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRANSPARENCY 85
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http://www.education.com/reference/article/goal-orientation-theory/

ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRANSPARENCY 86
APPENDIX A
Document and Artifact Protocol
Departmental Policy and Procedures Prompts:
1. Is there a standard department policy and procedure manual?
2. Are there documents or systems created or used by staff to help in managing workflow
and increase efficiency?
3. Are there documents and procedures created or used by staff to ensure a system of check
and balances for accountability?
4. Are there memorandums of understanding for employee work groups which may have an
influence in the way the CSRPG Electronic Payment operates?
5. How does the Human Resource guide impact the way the CSRPG Electronic Payment
operates?
6. In what ways does the CSRPG Electronic Payment communicate with its employees?
7. Are there reference manuals or documents which contain current rules and mandates
governing public organizations regarding mandatory compliance in operating within a set
budget?
8. Are there ordinances or mandates which govern the CSRPG Electronic Payment?
9. Are there State or Federal laws and mandates which influence in any way that the
CSRPG Electronic Payment operates or conducts business?
10. Are employees required to maintain any type of training?
a. If so, are there systems in place to track and record this type of training?
11. Does the organization provided the opportunity to pursue professional development, if at
all.
ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRANSPARENCY 87
Business Rules Prompts:
12. Are there memorandums of agreement, business agreements or contracts with third-party
vendors and consultants which provide services which allow the CSRPG Electronic
Payment to achieve its mission?
13. Are there business agreements and alliances with other public organizations and entities
which impact how the CSRPG Electronic Payment operates?
14. Are there rules and regulations governing how the CSRPG Electronic Payment interacts
with third-party vendors and consultants?
a. If so, are these rules easily available for employees to see or access?
Digital and Digital Media Footprint Prompts:
15. Does the CSRPG Electronic Payment state its departmental mission online?
16. What form of performance metrics are provided to outside stakeholders online?
17. Is the CSRPG Electronic Payment digital presence easy to locate?
18. Is this information easy to use and engaging?
19. Board meeting minutes which may provide insight to the decision-making process
involving the CSRPG Electronic Payment.
Published Reports Prompts:
20. Are there published internal performance metrics are for internal stakeholders?
21. What types of performance metrics are used for internal and external stakeholders?
22. Are these performance reports in alignment with achieving transparency and
accountability?
23. Are these performance reports easily accessible to all stakeholders?
ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRANSPARENCY 88
24. Does the CSRPG Electronic Payment make a proactive effort in providing performance
reports to all stakeholders?

ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRANSPARENCY 89
APPENDIX B
Interview Protocol
Interview Questions
Introduction: Thank you for agreeing to participate in this study. There is a need for
accountability and transparency within local government. I am seeking your experiences with
accountability and transparency within local government. I am not part of your organization but
have seen many great examples of accountability and transparency from your organization. I
have chosen employees of the electronic payment services department for this study because of
the key role you have to make a difference within the organization. Questions will specifically
look at three different areas that have a direct impact on your success in promoting transparency
within your organization. For the purposes of this study, your identity and the identity of your
organization will be anonymous. This interview will be recorded. However, you have the right
to ask that I do not record the interview as well as having the option to stop the interview at any
time without repercussions. You will have the final say in what is included in this study. With
your permission, recording will now begin with your permission. Please give a verbal
confirmation that you agree to being recorded and interviewed.
Interview Questions:
These first set of questions will ask about your role within the Electronic Payment and how your
department reaches out to other stakeholders both internal and external.
1. Tell me why you chose to work in public government.
2. Describe your communication style and how it fits in within your department’s and the
organization’s communication style.
ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRANSPARENCY 90
3. Describe the kind of impact your department has, if any, within the within the entire
organization.
4. Tell me in what ways does your role help the CSRPG Electronic Payment Services
Department achieve its mission as well as the CSRPG’s overall goal to serve the public?
5. Describe a time if at all when you had an important idea that wanted to contribute to your
organization.
The next set of questions will look at knowledge in the workplace.
6. Tell me how you feel about continuing to learn about different ways to promote
transparency through public engagement in the budget process if at all. How important do
you feel that is in your role?
7. Describe areas of knowledge that you must constantly keep updated on to be effective in
your job.
8. How comfortable do you feel about asking for help or additional training to accomplish
your goals at work?
9. Tell me about a time where you took a class or received training that made you feel more
confident in meeting work challenges.
10. In what ways do you feel your organization makes it easier or harder to improve your
work skills and knowledge?
These next questions focus on what your organization does to help you promote transparency.
11. Describe the culture of your department regarding the importance of transparency and
accountability.
12. Tell me how your organization incorporates internal and outside input to improve
performance in transparency and accountability, if at all.
ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRANSPARENCY 91
13. What are some of the main challenges your organization faces in promoting transparency
and accountability, if at all?
14. Describe what your organization does that motivates you to work harder and to engage
other departments and the public to promote transparency and accountability, if at all.
15. How confident do you feel to influence change within your organization?
Thank you, this concludes our interview. A copy of the transcripts of this interview will be sent
to you for approval.

ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRANSPARENCY 92
APPENDIX C
Credibility and Trustworthiness
This study employed several strategies to ensure credibility and trustworthiness is
established and maintained. Protocols and study design protected the CSRPG and the
participants of this study, the employees of the CSRPG Electronic Payment Services
Department. Transparency was achieved through informing CSRPG management of the goal of
this study. CSRPG management had the final say in what will be used as data for this study.
Other control measures were also be in place to protect the participants’ personal information.
This includes the omission of any personal identifying information within the data and security
measures.
Credibility was addressed through different data sources: interviews and artifacts. These
two different sources of information provided a triangulation and cross verification of
information (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). A second method that was employed by this study, as
discussed by Merriam and Tisdell (2016), is member checks, or Maxwell’s (2013) respondent
validation where participants were consulted to see if data results are in alignment with what
they are experiencing. Research bias, as discussed by Maxwell (2013), is also a threat to
credibility. Another method to counter the threats to validity is brought forth by Maxwell (2013)
in response to reactiveness by participants. As Maxwell (2013) discussed, careful development
of interview questions, which are reflected in the interview protocol, will help address reactivity
from participants. The protocol helped create the same experience for all participants and
minimize reactivity. It is also important to note that the researcher must be aware of reactivity
even through it cannot be eliminated (Maxwell, 2013). Finally, credibility and trustworthiness
ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRANSPARENCY 93
will not come directly from protocols and measures employed but from how the data is
interpreted in an objective way (Maxwell, 2013).
ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRANSPARENCY 94
APPENDIX D
Ethics
My ethical responsibilities for this study include the protection of the primary stakeholder
group, the employees of the CSRPG Electronic Payment Services Department and CSRPG as an
organization. This responsibility involved ensuring that the identity of the study participants will
remain anonymous and protected. All data was stripped of personal identifying markers that
might lead to the identification of individuals as well as the organization itself. Pseudonyms
were used to label the data. No personal identifying data was recorded or saved to protect
participant’s confidentiality. Other stakeholder groups were also assigned pseudonyms and other
de-identified labels. This included no real names, job titles and other identifying markers or
characteristics. The data was stored and secured on a password-protected computer with security
measures in place. These measures will ensure that study participants are aware of their rights to
confidentiality, the protection of personal information, who were made aware of the benefits of
this study to other organizations and theirs as well. As Glesne (2011) discussed, the researcher
has an obligation to protect the rights of the study participants who should not be a means to an
end but seen as partners in research that will benefit them and other stakeholders.
An information document was provided to each research participant. This document was
written in a language that is accessible and understandable to study participants. This document
explained the purpose of the study. This information document also went over study
participants’ rights, including the volunteering aspect of this study. The information sheet was
used to inform and educate the participant about his/her role within the study as well as facilitate
in his/her understanding of the purpose of the study. The importance of CSRPG employees in
understanding this comes from the need for this study to ensure they are not only protected but
ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRANSPARENCY 95
also respected. This need for respect in the form of straightforwardness is stressed by Rubin and
Rubin (2012) describing deception is a form of lack of respect and substantiates the need for
transparency using informed consent.
Relationship with Crescent Springs Regional Government
Because this study is employing an evaluation model, CSRPG and its electronic payment
services department was chosen because it is important to study local government agencies
regarding transparency and accountability in local government. In my current work, I do not
work directly with the CSRPG or its electronic payment services department, resulting in no
formal work ties to this organization. My personal interest in this project is to evaluate and
identify positive influences on or barriers to transparency and accountability in local
government.
My purpose for this study and relationship with CSRPG was explained to study
participants. The importance of maintaining confidentiality and what measures will be in place
was also explained. How this study will be used and the benefits that it may bring to CSRPG
and other local government agencies was also discussed. This included explaining to CSRPG
officials and the employees of the CSRPG Electronic Payment Services that my role was purely
as a researcher. This reflects a relationship that is collaborative rather than one that can
potentially exploit the employees. As Glesne (2011) discussed, the latter reflects a utilitarian
approach to ethics, placing the end goal above the individual for the greater good. This study
followed a utilitarian model of ethics but will be deontological in nature where values of moral
conduct are more important that the findings. Doing no harm was also discussed by Rubin and
Rubin (2012) who stated that study participants should not be harmed but possibly benefit from
the experience. In my own study, the employees of the CSRPG Electronic Payment as well as
ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRANSPARENCY 96
CSRPG as an entire organization should also benefit for participating in my study by identifying
areas of possible improvement in promoting transparency.
Assumptions and Biases
As a public employee with over 24 years of experience, I have experiences dealing with
the public. These experiences can have an influence on my objectiveness as an observer and
how I perceive the interactions between CSRPG employees and the stakeholders. This includes
standards of customer service that have been developed from working in a small public agency.
This contrasts with the CSRPG, which may have different factors influencing employees as well
as different drivers that affect outside stakeholders. A goal for me, the researcher in this study,
was to remember and be aware that I may have these biases that can prevent me from making
observations that are clear and unbiased. As discussed by Merriam and Tisdell (2016), this
ensured that the data was collected in a repeatable and objective manner to ensure the internal
validity of the study.

ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRANSPARENCY 97
APPENDIX E
Limitations and Delimitations
There are limitations to this study that may have had an impact. The first of these was
limited accessibility and time constraints regarding interviewing participants. Participant time
was a tangible resource that was limited as a result of the staff having to take time from their
busy schedules to conduct interviews. This made it difficult to consider follow up interviews or
interviewing offsite or after hours. Participants may not have always felt comfortable speaking
candidly onsite. An offsite interviewing environment would have been more comfortable to the
participants who were discussing transparency and accountability in their organization. Most of
the participants had long work histories with the organization which did not provide a
perspective from an employee who is new to the organization. This may result in skewing the
interview data towards employees who have a long work history.
There are also delimitations to this study. The sample group of this study represented a
work group that is operational in nature. Further inquiry into other departments within this
organization who have a different role would provide additional perspective on how different
departments interact with internal and external stakeholders regarding transparency and
accountability. This study focused on a regional planning organization. This provided a small
and limited perspective, from one type of local government that plays a specific role. Further
study of employees from other types of local government would help provide a more complete
picture of how transparency and accountability is promoted or not in local government. This was
also a qualitative study which can be further expanded upon by using quantitative analysis.
Further analysis using quantitative methods would help provide data that could be generalized to
ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRANSPARENCY 98
other types of government employees and add to the understanding of how local government
promotes transparency and accountability.

Abstract (if available)

Abstract There has been an increasing public demand for accountability and transparency from public agencies (Kang, 2006). The failure of local government providing accountability and transparency includes a lack of stakeholder engagement and empowerment through information (Alcaraz-Quiles, Navarro-Galera, & Ortiz-Rodríguez, 2014). The organization chosen for this study, Chrystal Springs Regional Planning Government (CSPRG, a pseudonym) is a regional metropolitan planning organization. The first research question addressed the CSRPG Electronic Payment Services employees’ knowledge, skills and motivation related to promoting transparency and accountability by engaging stakeholders as part of the CSRPG’s Public Participation Plan. The second research question looked at the interactions between CSRPG’s organizational culture and context with the knowledge, skills and motivation of CSRPG Electronic Payment Services employees. The stakeholder group for this study are the employees of the CSRPG’s Electronic Payment Services. This evaluative study employed Clark and Estes’ (2008) model and was a qualitative bounded case study to obtain a large picture to evaluate the employees’ ability to promote transparency and accountability. This study found that employees of the CSRPG’s Electronic Payment Services department were highly motivated. However, challenges were identified in the areas of knowledge and organizational influences regarding promoting transparency and accountability. Recommendations to address these include increasing formal professional development opportunities, creating job aids to promote collaboration and communication between work-groups and improving on existing systems to provide stakeholder feedback in areas of transparency and accountability.

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Asset Metadata

Creator Gomez, Daniel (author)

Core Title An evaluative study of accountability and transparency in local government: an executive dissertation

School Rossier School of Education

Degree Doctor of Education

Degree Program Organizational Change and Leadership (On Line)

Publication Date 07/28/2019

Defense Date 06/20/2019

Publisher University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

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