THE DETERMINANTS TOWARD FOSTERING INNOVATION MANAGEMENT EFFECTIVENESS IN THAI PUBLIC SERVICES : EMPIRICAL STUDIES OF AWARDED ORGANIZATIONS

Abstract

The research studies the determinants toward fostering innovation management effectiveness in Thai public services using and empirical study of awarded organization. The main objectives are 1) to study and examine the characteristics of awarded organizations in public service innovation; 2) to analyze the determinants fostering innovation effectiveness in public service in the awarded organization; 3) to provide policy recommendations in the aspects of the determinants fostering public service innovation for enhancing Thai public service innovation performance.

This research employed a mixed-methods study in order to obtain the quantitative data from 393 employees from three departments: The Department of Fisheries, The Department of Land Transport, and The Department of Medical Science. The quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation coefficient, and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). The qualitative data were collected from in-depth interviews with the head of the division or unit and working-level officers in the front office who directly contacted people and officers that worked in the back office as front office support.

The research found that the following. One, the characteristics of awarded organizations in public service innovation are that the organization has the ability to drive innovation management, the employees have potential innovation management, and public service has been continuously developed. Two, the following factors, innovation strategy, organizational culture, organizational structure, human resource management, and organizational system, were correlated in innovation management effectiveness with a statistical significance of .05. However, innovative leadership was seen to have an indirect effect on innovation management effectiveness through innovation strategy and organizational culture with a statistical significance of .05. Three, policy recommendations were seen to promote more cooperation in innovation work among the organizations, either among the public sector, private sectors, or universities. Furthermore, the Office of the Public Sector Development Commission (OPDC) should have a system to exchange knowledge through knowledge management between best practices organizations and other organizations that need successful innovation development in order to exchange ideas and experiences from the awarded organization to other organizations. Finally, the government should consider complex legal amendments processes or still pending approval to be implemented successfully, to develop innovation.

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