Moderating Effects of Governance on Open Government Data Quality and Open Government Data Utilization: Analysis Based on the Resource Complementarity Perspective

Open government data (OGD) has great potential to produce political, social and economic values, but its utilization is far from expectations. This paper intends to study the factors and mechanisms that affect open data utilization. Drawing from the resource complementarity perspective of the resource-based theory, this study examines the moderating effect of the six dimensions of governance on open data quality and open data utilization. The model is empirically tested by the partial least squares (PLS) method using sample data from 115 countries. The results show that the five dimensions of governance (including voice and accountability, government effectiveness, rule of law, regulatory quality and control of corruption) moderated the relationship of open data quality with open data utilization in a positive direction. In addition, the impact of open data quality on open data utilization still holds true at the global level. The conclusion is that governance, as an important complementary resource to promote open data activities, can better promote open data utilization and value generation when combined with open data resources of various countries. Different governance levels are an important explanatory variable for the large differences of open data utilization among countries. In open data practice, governments should not only improve open data quality, but also improve the national governance level to provide complementary resource support for the utilization and value generation of open data in their countries.