You should be iterating over your result array. You can use jQuery Map function E.g.:
$.ajax({
type: "POST",
url: '/Home/GetPanelInfo',
contentType: "application/json; charset=utf-8",
dataType: "json",
success: function (json) {
var dataSource = $.map(json, function(obj){
return {
text: obj.groups_name,
expand: true,
contentUrl: "/Home/Index"
};
});
$("#panelBar").kendoPanelBar({
expandMode: "single",
id: "usr_id",
dataSource: dataSource
});
}
});