Abstract: Using big data to improve government’s governance efficacy is one of the important ways to modernize the national governance system. Establishing a targeted evaluation indicator system can not only deepen the theoretical connotation of government’s efficacy in governance, but also help to promote the application of big data in government’s governance practice. Following the principles of pertinence, value orientation and operability, this study constructs an evaluation indicator system for the improvement of government’s governance efficacy by using big data. To obtain effective indicators, this study adopts value-focused thinking to analyze national policy texts, as well as other research methods, e.g. theoretical analysis, literature analysis, case studies and focus group interviews. After iterative identification, development, comparison and categorization of initial indicator items, an indicator system including 4 dimensions, 19 secondary indicators and 38 tertiary indicators is constructed. Then Delphi method and analytic hierarchy process (AHP) are used to determine the weights of the final indicators.

Key words: Big data, Governance performance, Government efficacy, Evaluation system, VFT