District Government Administrator’s Preparation for Becoming the City Development Center: A Case Study of Smart City, Khon Kaen Province

Abstract

The purposes of this study are (1) To study the awareness and preparation level, and (2) To study the problems and obstacles in preparing Khon Kaen city to become the smart city area at the district level. Quantitative and qualitative methods had been used in this research. The data was collected from 92 participants who are the regional government administrators and the local government administrators in nine districts in Khon Kaen province. The data collection tools for this study were the open-ended question questionnaire. The data was analyzed by using descriptive statistics and content analysis techniques.

The results of the study have found that that the overall rate of the preparation to become the smart city area in the district level was in the average level (x ̅= 2.90) details as follows: Organization’s readiness (the policy, plan, and assigning the responsible officers); Resource readiness; and Community and citizen readiness. The problems and obstacles in preparation to become Khon Kaen smart city area at the district level were (1) Insufficient of officers and specialists for the required workload (2) Insufficient in budgeting (3) The technology was not suitable for working and service provision (1) Lacking information for connecting the system with other organizations (5) Political instability and (6) Lacking in organizational flexibility.