Composite Indicator of Social Responsiveness

Abstract

Various local stakeholders with diverse needs seek different treatment and actions by their local governments. From the modern perspective of local governance, this article examines whether local governments are sufficiently responsive in meeting not only the mandatory responsibilities, but also the rapidly expanding range of societal expectations. This study enriches the existing local governance literature with a novel methodology and a set of indicators for measuring the quality of networked community local governance. The primary goal is to enlighten the local governance theory with a newly designed perspective and to offer our own innovative quantitative representation. The conclusions are based on theoretical refinements and our own innovative methodology supported by an empirical investigation. Finally, a composite indicator of social responsiveness of local governments is constructed, elaborated and illustrated through a case study.