Accountability is an important component of public sector reform. Increased accountability can help put an end to waste, inefficient use of resources and corruption, and can also improve delivery of services. Information technology (IT) and information systems (IS) have had a significant impact on the public sector, and there is an expectation that they will create greater accountability.
This paper from the Institute for Development Policy and Management looks at the relationship between accountability in the public sector and IT/IS. It argues that although we expect IT/IS to improve accountability, most of the time this has not been the case. IT and IS do have the potential to support accountability by increasing and improving the flow of information after a decision is made. However there is no innate link between computerisation and accountability. In many cases IT/IS will actually undermine accountability.
In practice IT/IS has either shifted or undermined accountabilities in the public sector:
- Delivery of information via new information systems has been uneven. Public sector accountability has shifted to groups and institutions with the financial or political power to impose information systems on them, such as central government and donor agencies.
- Citizens and clients are accountability ‘losers’ because of this. Barriers to access are also reinforced where accountability information is provided online – more so than when this information was provided on paper.
- Computerised systems have tended to drive out other information systems because of the speed and convenience of these new systems, and also a perception of objectivity of information and data quality.
- This perception can lead to inaccurate data. Data may be taken at face value and cross checking channels and procedures may be ignored. Computerised records are also more intangible and malleable than paper-based records.
- Human inputs in the decision-making process are reduced, making it difficult to pinpoint who is responsible for decisions. There is also a related problem of who is responsible when the computer systems fail.
- A shift in accountability from internal management to external groups may undermine internal systems. There may be also be a split in internal and external reporting, with either one being falsified.
In what situation does IT/IS support accountability? The paper argues that IS supports accountability where there are monitoring (reporting IS), comparison (openness IS) and control (accountability IS) mechanisms in place. IT rarely supports accountability. Factors necessary for IS accountability are:
- The motivation of public servants to act accountably. This is influenced by the politics and culture of the organisation and encouraged by a system that rewards performance and punishes wrong-doing
- A system of managerial responsibility and performance standards with those responsible for decisions being clearly identified. Comparison and control processes must exist so that accountability information can be interpreted.
- People must have the skills to access and understand information so that they can hold public servants accountable. They must also have the authority to do so.
- The designers of an accountability system must be accountable themselves. They should ensure that they interact with the recipients of the system when they are designing it.
- Change is driven more easily from the environmental and organisational level rather than from within (for example, from the mass media, international organisations etc).
- ‘Toughing it out’ through internal resistance to change may work, but will increase resistance to the new information system.
