University Administrators as Information Tacticians: Understanding Transparency as Selective Concealment and Instrumental Disclosure

Despite its burgeoning popularity, the concept of administrative transparency has received little attention from interpretivist sociologists. Symbolic interactionism offers a theoretical and methodological agenda for understanding administrative transparency that departs from the more common quantitative‐ and factor‐based approaches. With an emphasis on educational administration, this article defines and examines how university administrators accomplish transparency in their everyday activities. Data from in‐depth semistructured interviews identify administrative transparency as a reflexive act of concealment and disclosure. These activities are further described by what are identified as silent budgetary bargaining and opportunistic budgeting.