How technology, organization and environment affected open government data during COVID-19: the moderating role of pandemic severity

PurposeWith the worldwide open government data (OGD) movement and frequent public health emergencies in recent years, academic research on OGD for public health emergencies has been growing. However, it is not fully understood how to promote OGD on public health emergencies. Therefore, this paper aims to explore the factors that influence OGD on public health emergencies.Design/methodology/approachThe technology-organization-environment framework is applied to explore factors that influence OGD during COVID-19. It is argued that the effects of four key factors - technical capacity, organizational readiness, social attention and top-down pressure - are contingent on the severity of the pandemic. A unique data set was created by combining multiple data sources which include archival government data, a survey of 1,034 Chinese respondents during the COVID-19 outbreak and official COVID-19 reports.FindingsThe data analysis indicates that the four factors positively affect OGD, and pandemic severity strengthens the effects of technical capacity, organizational readiness and social attention on OGD.Originality/valueThis study provides theoretical insights regarding how to improve OGD during public health emergencies, which can guide government efforts in sharing data with the public when dealing with outbreak in the future.