Participatory mechanisms and public accountability in municipal governments
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.70577/ze73k816Keywords:
Social oversight, municipal governments, citizen participation, public accountability, transparency.Abstract
This research addressed the issue of the limited effective impact of participatory mechanisms on the public accountability processes of municipal governments, particularly due to weaknesses in feedback, follow-up, and responses to citizen observations. The objective was to analyze the relationship between participatory mechanisms and public accountability in municipal governments. A quantitative approach was employed, utilizing a non-experimental, retrospective design with a descriptive-correlational scope; this involved a documentary review of institutional reports, records regarding participation, accountability, and transparency, as well as official statistical databases. The analysis included descriptive statistics, Spearman correlation, principal component analysis, and multiple regression. The results showed that citizen participation reached an average of 75.60 points out of 100; the relationship between participation and institutional evaluation yielded a coefficient of 0.891, while the relationship between evaluation and information accountability reached 0.878. The principal component explained 85.85% of the total variability, and significant differences were identified between municipalities regarding citizen participation (p = 0.029), access to information (p = 0.028), and information accountability (p = 0.035). It is concluded that participatory effectiveness depended on the municipality's capacity to translate citizen intervention into follow-up, evaluation, and social oversight.
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Copyright (c) 2026 Sara Geoconda Soledispa Reyes, Damary Lidsay Rivera Cedeño (Autor/a)
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