New Applications in Transparency Indices and the Role of Digital Environments in Enhancing Local Government Accountability

Transparency in public institutions is essential to strengthening democratic quality, especially in a context of growing public mistrust and increasing demands for accountability. Despite regulatory and technological progress, transparency at the municipal level remains uneven due to differences among local governments. In this context, this paper proposes an alternative methodological approach based on the construction of composite transparency indicators that combine 20 evaluated indicators (rated on a scale from 1 to 4) for 395 Spanish municipalities with over 20,000 inhabitants. This approach makes it possible to assess both overall transparency and performance across thematic areas. The results reveal intermediate levels of transparency, with stronger performance in institutional and economic-financial information, and weaker results in legal aspects and senior officials’ disclosures. Subsequently, by analyzing the level of disclosure associated with these composite indicators through a second-stage non-parametric regression, we find that digital inclusion and privacy literacy are positively associated with higher transparency, while economic constraints and social inequality tend to hinder it. This study contributes to developing tools better adapted to local realities, fostering more open, accountable, and citizen-oriented public administrations.