Katrin Rajamäe-Soosaar

arXiv2026

Data Want to be Free: An Innovation Resistance Theory Model for Identifying Barriers to Government Data Sharing

Data sharing is increasingly essential for digital government and data-driven innovation, yet many public organizations remain reluctant to make their data openly available. While prior research has examined factors influencing open data adoption, little theoretical work explores why resistance persists within public agencies. This study develops an Innovation Resistance Theory (IRT) model tailored to government data sharing to identify predictors of organizational resistance. An initial model was derived from literature and refined through interviews with 21 public organizations across six European countries. The resulting IRT4DS model identifies 39 barriers spanning usage, value, risk, tradition, and image dimensions, and 23 countermeasures mapped to the most critical barriers and the actors responsible for addressing them. By extending IRT into the context of governmental data sharing, the study advances theoretical understanding of why public data often remains closed and provides actionable guidance for policymakers seeking to design enabling data ecosystems and reduce structural and cultural barriers to OGD adoption.

cs.CY↗

arXiv2024

Exploring Estonia's Open Government Data Development as a Journey towards Excellence: Unveiling the Progress of Local Governments in Open Data Provision

Estonia has a global reputation of a digital state or e-country. However, despite the success in digital governance, the country has faced challenges in the realm of Open Government Data (OGD) area, with significant advancements in its OGD ecosystem, as reflected in various open data rankings from 2020 and onwards, in the recent years being recognized among trend-setters. This paper aims to explore the evolution and positioning of Estonia's OGD development, encompassing national and local levels, through an integrated analysis of various indices, primary data from the Estonian OGD portal, and a thorough literature review. The research shows that Estonia has made progress in the national level open data ecosystem, primarily due to improvements in the OGD portal usability and legislation amendments. However, the local level is not as developed, with local governments lagging behind in OGD provision. The literature review highlights the lack of previous research focusing on Estonian and European local open data, emphasizing the need for future studies to explore the barriers and enablers of municipal OGD. This study contributes to a nuanced understanding of Estonia's dynamic journey in the OGD landscape, shedding light on both achievements and areas warranting further attention for establishing a sustainable open data ecosystem.

cs.CY↗