Comparative Good Governance and Guidelines on Developing Good Governance Practices for the Government Agencies in Thailand

Abstract

The objectives of this research are to compare Thailand’s good governance principles and those of foreign countries and present the recommendations on the development of good governance practices for government agencies. The research adopts mixed methods research, starting with documentary research and in-depth interviews with five key informants or experts based on purposive sampling. Subsequently, the questionnaire is developed to collect quantitative data from 95 government agencies under central administration. The results show that Thailand, Denmark, United States of America, South Korea, Singapore, Philippines, and Indonesia share certain similarities of good governance principles. These principles include transparency and participation. Nevertheless, Denmark and United States of America are found to demonstrate some differences. First, the principles of environmental conservation have been adopted as the indicators of good governance, and their government agencies do not establish clear indicators of good governance. All six indicators receive a high level of agreement. These six indicators are transparency, accountability, rule of law, participation, morality/ethics, and value for money. It is recommended that government agencies should include all six indicators as good governance practices. However, detailed description of each indicator may vary, depending on the mission of each government agency. It is, moreover, recommended that government agencies should adopt technology to their work since it helps them to respond to the demands from people efficiently as well as allowing them to have access to information.