SOCIAL AND CULTURAL MANAGEMENT OF LOCAL ADMINISTRATIVE ORGANIZATIONS IN NAKHONSAWAN PROVINCE

Abstract

This research has the following objectives: 1) to study the level of social and cultural management of local government in NakhonSawan Province; 2) to study the factors which impact social and cultural management of local government in NakhonSawan Province; and 3) to present guidelines for social and cultural management of local government in NakhonSawan Province.       

The research used a methodology model mixing quantitative and qualitative approaches. The quantitative research tools used a questionnaire with a reliability coefficient of 0.967 for data collection carried out by the researcher on a sample group of administrators, civil servants and employees of the local government totaling 355 people chosen by simple random sampling. The data were analyzed with a statistical package to arrive at values for frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation and multiple regression analysis. The tools used for qualitative research consisted of in-depth interviews of 25 key informants and a panel discussion with 11 specific experts using descriptive content analysis techniques.

The research found that:

1. In the social and cultural management of local government in NakhonSawan Province, social management by strengthening the community according to a philosophy of economic sufficiency was at a high level overall (=3.66). When considering categories at the levels of local government, community and household, the mean of each category was at a high level. Cultural management through the promotion of cultural, natural and health tourism was also at a high level overall (=3.57). Considering each category, it was found that the development and upgrade of cultural and natural attractions, promotion of events based on the annual tour calendar and important traditions, marketing promotion, public relations, and tour service have a mean at a high level level, and the development and promotion of health tourism has a medium-level mean.

1. In the factors that affect the social and cultural management of local government in NakhonSawan Province, organization management can predict the social and cultural management of local government in NakhonSawan Province at 62.90%. The factors affecting the result of organization management have 4 aspects, namely party/network, communication/technology, policy and personnel, and the Four Rddhippada (effective means to attain success) predict the social and cultural management of local government in NakhonSawan Province at 17.50%. The factors which impact the Four Rddhippada have 2 aspects, Chanda (satisfaction) and Vimamsa (diligent reflection and appraisal).
2. The guidelines found for social and cultural management of local government in NakhonSawan are: 1) social management by strengthening the community according to the philosophy of economic sufficiency through the integrated collaboration between government and civil society in order to strengthen the organization at the local government level, enhance strength, cover weaknesses and develop good, skillful community members at the community level, and create quality of life and rational living at the household level; and 2) cultural management by promoting cultural, natural and health tourism through the development and upgrade of cultural and natural attractions to be prosperous and sustainable, by promoting tour calendar-based events to take place all 12 months, or at least seasonally, and by market promotion, public relations and services to present the diversity of tourist attractions in NakhonSawan, be they ecological, historical, cultural, intellectual or agricultural initiatives, and by developing health tourism promoting the restauration of better health to life.