PUBLIC MANAGEMENT IN THE DIGITAL AGE USING THE FIVE STRENGTHS PRINCIPLE

Abstract

This academic article analyzes public management in the digital age by integrating the Five Strengths Principle (Bala 5), a Buddhist teaching on five inner powers, with the modern public administration paradigm and the transition to digital government. The study uses documentary research and academic synthesis, reviewing Thai and international literature, the Tipitaka, and government policy documents. The analysis shows that public service in the digital age is not routine compliance with regulations but an institutional mission resting on four principles: public interest, equality, continuity, and transparency. Under volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (VUCA) conditions that drive digital transformation, the state must move toward citizen-centered electronic governance, while New Public Management, with its focus on quantitative efficiency, still lacks an ethical core. The Five Strengths faith, effort, mindfulness, concentration, and wisdom guide the use of technology and keep digital development from slipping into poor governance. The success of public management rests not on the modernity of tools but on the union of technology with human capability, which the author synthesizes as the DIGI-BALA Model. The article proposes three approaches: embedding the Five Strengths in the competency framework of digital officials; requiring ethical impact assessment before applying artificial intelligence in citizen services; and establishing data governance covering efficiency, transparency, and ethics.