Attitudes toward Accountability among Officials in Thai Local Government

Abstract

This study aims to investigate local officials’ attitudes toward four different types of accountability; bureaucratic, legal, professional, and political. The study found that local officials pay relatively more attention to professional accountability than the other three types. When taking four independent variables into account (positions, types of local government, status when started their careers, and location of workplace), we found that location of workplace has a significant impact on different levels of attention toward different types of accountability. Officials who work in local governments located within their hometown tend to pay more attention toward legal, professional, and political accountabilities than those officials who work in local governments outside their hometown. This study also investigates the current environment local officials face and the mechanisms local officials utilize in order to cope with that environment. Local officials must follow bureaucratic processes and follow rules and regulations imposed by central and regional governments. They also must work in harmony with local executives (who tend to pay more attention to political accountability) because their careers currently depend so much on local executives. We found that, relative to the past, local officials tend to work more closely with local constituencies and also adopt open-minded approaches towards fieldwork and activities with local people in order to shield themselves and gain credit from local executives. Local officials also tend to build relationships with local officials both within and outside their governments in order to gain more cooperation and support.