Public Professionalism in Local Government Setting: A Comparative Analysis of Thai and Illinois Municipal Chief Administrators’Perceptions of Public Professionalism

Abstract

In this article, the researchers examine the perceptions of public professionalism among Thai and Illinois municipal chief administrators. Based on an extensive review of extant literature on good governance and public management, public professionalism is defined in this article as the ability to balance political, legal, bureaucratic, and professional accountabilities. The researchers seek to answer two central questions. First, how do differences in municipal government form infl uence chief administrators’ public professionalism? Second, to what extent is public professionalism influenced by the municipal chief administrators’ membership in professional associations? With both questions, the researchers seek to identify the factors contributing to Thai and Illinois municipal government offi cials’ ability to manage different, and sometime conflicting, expectations and accountabilities. In other words, the research objective is to fi nd out whether the degree of public professionalism among municipal government offi cials could be enhanced by appropriate institutional design of the municipal government and encouragement of municipal government officials’ membership in professional associations.