Exploring transparency through centralized–decentralized control systems: A multidisciplinary experimental approach in organizational contexts

Failure in leadership has been one of the major constants in the continuous changes happening in society since memorial time. This failure is often linked to several factors, like governance system corruption and transparency. The purpose of this study is to provide a structured definition for transparency and to conceptualize a DCCS framework to achieve it. We used a multidisciplinary experimental mixed research methodology involving three parts: a literature review, an experiment, and a SWOT analysis to answer the research questions. We find that transparency is a paradoxical, complex, continuous process that requires a constant update and adjustment of its meaning and objective depending on the individual and/or organizational perspective. Furthermore, while a DCCS was effective in our experiment, it requires a practical adaptation to the specificity of each organization in order to achieve transparency. The results of this study can be used as a model for future research on transparency.