Noting the skepticism surrounding the buzzword "transparency" used in discussing the federal government, the company behind the American Customer Satisfaction Index has said it found a strong correlation between online transparency and satisfaction with agencies’ websites.
Foresee Results defines online transparency as "how thoroughly the website discloses information about what the agency is doing, how quickly information is made available online, and how accessible information is to the public on the website."
After analyzing over 36,000 responses from surveys on existing government websites, it said when citizens find a website highly transparent – above 80 on a 100-point scale, they are 85 percent more satisfied than users that rate the website’s transparency below 70.
Further, it said users who view a website to be highly transparent are 40 percent more likely to express their thoughts and ideas with that agency in the future, offline or online, 37 percent more likely to return to the website, 57 percent more likely to recommend the site, 49 percent more likely to use it as a primary resource, and 46 percent more likely to trust in government overall.
USDA’s Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion ranked highest in online transparency – 83, and satisfaction – 84, followed by the Department of Health and Human Service Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration – with scores of 81 and 79, the Department of State, Bureau of Consular Affairs – 79 and 77, the HHS Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services Administration – 79 and 75, and GSA, with scores of 78 and 76.
