Title: How do ethics and transparency practices work in Thailand's local governments?

Authors: Thanabhatra Jaiyen; Sukanya Aimim-Tham; Achmad Nurmandi; Dyah Mutiarin

Addresses: Department of Public Administration, Khon Kaen University, Thailand ' Public Administration Department, Khon Kaen University, Thailand ' Department of Government Affairs and Administration, Jusuf Kalla School of Government, Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta, Indonesia ' Department of Government Affairs and Administration, Jusuf Kalla School of Government, Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta, Indonesia

Abstract: Maintaining good governance practices regarding ethics and transparency in Thailand's local governments is very challenging. The lack of ethics and transparency are due to the abuse of power and misconduct by local politicians and officials and loopholes in the rules and regulation. This mixed-method study was conducted in the northeastern municipalities of Thailand. The research found that the factors of accountability, persons and structure were significantly associated with good governance practices of ethics and transparency with correlation levels of 0.88, 0.88 and 0.81, respectively. In-depth interview results indicated that good governance practices in local governments were not improved, although the military had seized power in May 2014. During this time, the abuse of power, misconduct and allegations of fraud committed by local politicians and officials continued.

Keywords: good governance; ethics; transparency; practices; implementation; Thailand; local government; municipalities.

DOI: 10.1504/IJPSPM.2020.107767

International Journal of Public Sector Performance Management, 2020 Vol.6 No.3, pp.361 - 380

Received: 12 Feb 2018
Accepted: 31 Jul 2018
Published online: 17 Jun 2020 *

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