Approaches to the Development of Electronic Government for Thailand

Abstract

Objectives of this research included (1) to appropriately generate variables as indicators in level of e-government for development of Thailand (2) to perceive level of e-government of Thailand regarding to indicator generated by the first objective and (3) to recommend the approaches to the development of e-government for Thailand. Methods employed in this research were mixed-methods. In regard to quantitative methods, Partial Least Square – Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) was employed and Smart PLS was the software to processing two step approach to modeling. Whereas, to analyzing level of e-government of Thailand was employed via documentary research as qualitative method. This research found that the variables indicating a status of e-government were divided into two dimensions: (1) the mechanism of driving the e-government development and (2) the quality of e-government. The result found that the mechanism could explain the positive variation in quality of e-government up to 94.9 percent with large effect size (f2 = 1.471). In the context of Thailand, this study found that the drive for the Thai e-government had taken quite a long time, which had caused the quality of the e-government to slow down. Thailand's e-government was rich in policies, and specific promotion as well as support, such as human resource development and public relations. However, there is no concrete development of e-Government in other comprehensive aspects. This research suggested that the government should proceed to upgrade the e-government level by focusing on the mechanism to drive the e-government to cover various aspects, including (1) developing e-government policy, (2) improving ICT infrastructure, (3) promoting of e-government, (4) transforming organizational culture, (5) improving government effectiveness, and (6) enhancing cyber security. These developments will leverage the development of e-government quality.