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This paper aims to summarize the open government data (OGD) research which has been become an increasingly engaging domain for the academic community.

Scanning the literature on OGD, the paper underlines the different strands observable in the OGD-based research. The paper concludes with research pointers, limitations and implications for practitioners.

OGD has been investigated from different angles, and there is a need for more empirical investigation across contexts.

The paper serves as a reference point for OGD research.

The purpose of this study is to do provide an overview of open government data (OGD) frameworks in six Middle East countries (Cyprus, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, Lebanon and Jordan) and to underscore the barriers in using the open data sets.

OGD framework offered by Sieber and Johnson (2015) is deployed for the present purpose. Primarily, documentary analysis is being used for substantiating the study and the national portals of the six countries are investigated.

In line with the frameworks chosen for this study, OGD initiatives across the six Middle East countries are at an emerging phase. All the six countries qualify for the “data over the wall” model as advanced by Sieber and Johnson (2015), wherein there are basic provisions of “data aggregation.” Furthermore, the data are incomplete and outdated, which serve as barriers in using these data sets for analysis and interpretation. Therefore, there are a number of barriers in using the open data sets. However, there are many prospects for using these data sets which would improve public accountability and transparency in the long run.

Besides helping in improved decision-making, the governments may be in a better position to appreciate the relevance of adopting a robust OGD initiative in facilitating the economic growth of their country.

This study is relevant for ensuring that citizen engagement is promoted and there is co-creation of public value.

Hitherto, OGD has been investigated in the six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries (Bahrain, Oman, Qatar, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates) but the other countries in Middle East have not been investigated. This study selects six countries outside the GCC ambit and investigates the nature and scope of OGD initiatives in each of them apart from underlining the barriers in using the open data sets.

The purpose of this paper is to appreciate the futuristic trends of Big and Open Linked Data (BOLD). While designating the ongoing progress of BOLD as BOLD 0.0, the paper also identifies the trajectory of BOLD 0.0 as BOLD 1.0, BOLD 2.0 and BOLD 3.0 in terms of the complexity and management of data sets from different sources.

This is a viewpoint and the ideas presented here are personal.

The trajectory of BOLD shall witness ever-growing challenges as the nature and scope of data sets grow complicated. The paper posits that by the time BOLD would attain its maturity, there would be a need for newer technologies and data architecture platforms which are relatively affordable and available as “Open Source”, if possible.

Being exploratory in approach, this viewpoint presents a futuristic trend, which may or may not be valid. Nevertheless, there are significant practical implications for the academicians and practitioners to appreciate the likely challenges in the coming times for ensuring the sustainability of BOLD.

While there are a number of studies on BOLD, there are no studies which seek to propose the possible trends in BOLD’s progress. This paper seeks to plug this gap.

With the ongoing drives towards Open Government Data (OGD) initiatives across the globe, governments have been keen on pursuing their OGD policies to ensure transparency, collaboration and efficiency in administration. As a developing country, India has recently adopted the OGD policy (www.data.gov.in); however, the percolation of this policy in the States has remained slow. This paper aims to underpin the “asymmetry” in OGD framework as far as the Indian States are concerned. Besides, the study also assesses the contribution of “Open Citizens” in furthering the OGD initiatives of the country.

An exploratory qualitative following a case study approach informs the present study using documentary analysis where evidentiary support from five Indian States (Uttar Pradesh, Telangana, West Bengal, Sikkim and Gujarat) is being drawn to assess the nature and scope of the OGD framework. Further, conceptualization for “Open Citizen” framework is provided to emphasize upon the need to have aware, informed and pro-active citizens to spearhead the OGD initiatives in the country.

While the National OGD portal has a substantial number of data sets across different sectors, the States are lagging behind in the adoption and implementation of OGD policies, and while Telangana and Sikkim have been the frontrunners in adoption of OGD policies in a rudimentary manner, others are yet to catch up with them. Further, there is “asymmetry” in terms of the individual contribution of the government bodies to the open data sets where some government bodies are more reluctant to share their datasets than the others.

It is the conclusion of the study that governments need to institutionalize the OGD framework in the country, and all the States should appreciate the requirement of adopting a robust OGD policy for furthering transparency, collaboration and efficiency in administration.

As an “Open Citizen”, it behooves upon the citizens to be pro-active and contribute towards the open data sets which would go a long way in deriving social and economic value out of these data sets.

While there are many studies on OGD in the West, studies focused upon the developing countries are starkly lacking. This study plugs this gap by attempting a comparative analysis of the OGD frameworks across Indian States. Besides, the study has provided a conceptualization of “Open Citizen” (OGD) which may be tapped for further research in developing and developed countries to ascertain the linkage between OGD and OC.

The paper aims to investigate the national open data portals of Japan, The Netherlands and Saudi Arabia to identify the role of cultural variations in terms of their open data initiatives.

Following a qualitative approach, Hofstede’s cultural dimensions are probed to appreciate the extent to which the cultures of Japan, The Netherlands and Saudi Arabia are different. Thereafter, the national open data portals of the three countries are analyzed in terms of their nature and scope to underline the extent to which there is a match between the cultural characteristics and the extent of commitment and implementation of open data initiative.

There are cultural dissimilarities across the three countries and the same is reflected in the extent of commitment toward open data initiatives. Saudi Arabia, with its “collectivist” and high “power distance” score, is more reserved in implementing its open data initiative as compared with Japan or The Netherlands. Similarly, The Netherlands, which scores high in terms of “feminity” and “long-term orientation,” is more forthcoming in publishing data sets, with many government organizations taking up the initiative of publishing the data sets. Finally, with more degree of “uncertainty avoidance,” Saudi Arabia prefers to remain on the safe side by publishing only those data sets that are non-controversial, insensitive and readily available. At the same time, the open data initiatives across the three countries require the adoption of a more rigorous and committed approach to ensure that the goals of transparency and public accountability are better met and there is more reuse of the data sets by improvising the user-friendliness of the interfaces for tapping them.

Taking examples from three countries, representative of the different cultural characteristics, it is desirable that further research be conducted by including more countries and deriving an evaluation framework for analyzing the sustainability of the open data initiatives in terms of their culture.

Governments are encouraged to adopt a more committed stance toward institutionalizing the open data initiatives and policymakers should ensure that the quality of data sets is sustained for maximum reuse of the data sets and for the derivation of public value.

Citizens should engage themselves in tapping the data sets for improvising them and contribute toward the existing data sets as well.

Hitherto, there has been focus on the examples of open data initiatives across different countries, but the role of culture was never investigated while analyzing the open data initiatives. This is the first study where the countries’ open data initiatives are probed in terms of the cultural variations across the three countries using the cultural dimensions identified by Hofstede.

This paper aims to advance a total quality management (TQM) model for the open government data (OGD) initiatives undertaken by the governments. As an example, the paper investigates the national OGD portal of India (www.data.gov.in) and provides implications of the proposed TQM model for the Indian case.

The TQM model for the OGD initiatives (16 dimensions in terms of drivers, enablers and results) is derived from the extant literature on the principles of TQM and OGD. The proposed model is used for drawing implications for the Indian OGD initiative.

The application of TQM model for the OGD initiative in India would help in quality maintenance and sustainability. The quality of the OGD portal should be improved by taking the TQM model as a point of reference.

Ensuring quality of the datasets is important for any OGD initiative. The proposed TQM model leaves insights for the practitioners (policymakers and administrators) to implement the TQM model in the OGD policy initiatives. This would lead to increased trust, transparency and accountability.

Through the integration of the TQM model in the OGD initiative of the country, a wider section of the stakeholders may tap the qualitatively advanced datasets for value creation. Citizen participation and engagement would increase with the integration of the TQM model in the OGD initiative.

While management of quality in the OGD initiatives has been underlined in the extant OGD-focused literature, the utility of applying TQM principles in OGD initiatives has not been conceived so far. The present study seeks to contribute towards the extant literature on TQM and OGD with the identification of the TQM model for the OGD initiatives.

This study aims to underline the possible influence of the moderator, information systems (IS) infusion, on Open Government Data (OGD) adoption and usage.

Using the partial least squares-structural equation modeling methodological approach, the adapted unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) model has been used for understanding the role of the moderating variable, namely, IS infusion.

Findings show that the moderating impact of IS infusion is positively significant with respect to the performance expectancy–behavioral intention relationship thereby bolstering the impact on users’ perception of OGD vis-à-vis work/academics performance and negatively significant for social influence–behavioral intention, information quality–behavioral intention, thereby clinching the fact that with the increased engagement and involvement of OGD in the everyday life of the user, the role of significant others and information quality gets least significant.

Extant OGD-focused research has underscored the impact of different variables as far as OGD adoption and usage is concerned; the present study seeks to add on to the extant literature by understanding the implications of IS infusion on the adapted UTAUT model constructs and behavioral intention relationships.

Open government data (OGD) is making available data freely to all by the government with the aim to ensure accountability and transparency in government besides generating public value by its usage. OGD is an emerging government initiative in Pakistan, and there is a lot of potential for harnessing OGD for spearheading innovation and improvising services in different economic sectors. This paper aims to seek to investigate the usage of OGD in private sector and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in Pakistan.

Documentary analysis is conducted to review the national OGD portal of Pakistan. Besides, structured interviews were conducted with 49 senior management representatives from private sector and NGOs to solicit their perspectives regarding the usage of OGD for professional purposes. Also, questions were posed regarding the challenges in harnessing OGD for professional purposes.

OGD has immense usage for private sector and NGOs; however, more initiatives are required on the part of the government to open their data sets. Further, involvement of stakeholders from the private sector and NGOs and other interested partners is required for an optimum usage of OGD in different economic sectors of Pakistan.

As the research focuses on private sector and NGOs in Pakistan, the study requires a more broad-based approach to take into account the perspectives of different users. Further research is required to appreciate the role of contextual factors in determining the usage of OGD in Pakistan.

Government should be more forthcoming in its OGD initiatives and encourage collaboration from citizens, businesses, voluntary organizations and the like.

Working professionals from different economic sectors should tap OGD for generating value by improvising their services.

The study is the first one to be conducted in Pakistan about the OGD initiatives of the country. Soliciting views from the key management representatives in the private sector and NGOs, the paper contributed to the extant OGD literature which is more supply-focused and not demand-driven. While conceding that there are ample usages of OGD for the different economic sectors, the paper underlines the need for refining the OGD initiatives of Pakistan.

The purpose of this paper is to underline the significance of invoking Big Data and Internet of Things (IoT) technologies in Omani Banks. Opportunities and challenges are also being discussed in the case study.

Four Omani banks representative of local, international, Islamic and specialized banks are being studied in terms of their social networking presence on Facebook and their e-banking facilities. Also, impetus is laid upon the aggregation of internal data and vast amounts of semi-structured external data from public sources, including social media.

The case study shows that Big Data analytics and IoT technologies may be utilized by the Omani banks for facilitating them in “forecasting” and “nowcasting”. Besides, customers may be better managed with better and efficient services. However, there are challenges in tapping these technologies such as security, infrastructure, regulatory norms, etc.

Banks in Oman need to appreciate the utility of Big Data and IoT technologies, and for this, a robust IT infrastructure should be institutionalized.

The case study is a major step in integrating Big Data and IoT technologies in Omani banks across four variants of national, international, Islamic and specialized banks. This is the first study where such integration has been emphasized in the Omani banking sector.

With an increasing thrust upon transparency and accountability in government, e-government platforms are being scaled in many countries to bolster trust of the citizens and to bring about efficiency in public service delivery. Recently, India launched its “Digital India” initiative as an e-government measure. This study aims to gauge respondents’ perceptions regarding corruption in public services post-launch of the “Digital India” initiative.

A survey was conducted via email, soliciting inputs from 217 respondents following a convenience sampling technique in selected districts of India. Using an institutional theory lens, this study uses a quantitative approach where correlations and hierarchical regression analysis inform the overall analysis.

The results showed that low transparency, high cost incurred in availing public services, inefficiency in government and favoritism in government are the key determinants that influenced the perception of users about corruption in e-government services. Also, one demographic variable, namely, gender, showed a statistically significant relationship with the perception of corruption in e-government services.

Hitherto, extant literature is replete with conceptual and theoretical studies on the impact of e-government initiatives on curbing corruption, and there is negligible empirical research in developing countries vis-à-vis this dimension – the present study seeks to fill this gap. Second, previous research has not used the institutional theory to investigate the efficacy of e-government initiatives; this study uses the framework of the institutional theory framework to substantiate the arguments.