FACTORS INFLUENCING PUBLIC SERVICE ACCOUNTABILITY: THE STUDY ON IMPLEMENTATION OF THE OFFICIAL INFORMATION ACT, B.E. 2540 (1997) IN THAILAND

Abstract

Accountable government has relied on public accountability of public organization and officials. Studies on public accountability in the past ten years are rich and diverse, but much of the richness is on the claim by scholars that accountability is linked with information. This study aims to investigate the concept of public accountability as it relates to the implementation of information policy. A systematical model on factors influencing public accountability in implementing the Official Information Act was developed from implementation models and organizational and management theories for more insightful understanding for implementation. Four main objectives of the study are: (1) to investigate public accountability on implementation of the Official Information Act in four public services, (2) to identify major factors and their relationships with public accountability, (3) to analyze the conditions supporting those major factors on public accountability, and (4) to recommend and propose appropriate measures for improving public accountability in implementing the Official Information Act in Thai public administration. Based on a two phased design, the data for survey research were obtained from a purposive sample consisting of one hundred and seventy nine state officials from seventy six public service organizations. Twenty nine key informants were source of data for stake holder analysis. Although the concept of public accountability in this study cannot cover serve for all domains of public accountability, it is justifiable, given the prescription for regulatory policy and management in public services that emphasize the rule of law in public administration. Further, policy implications and recommendations in the final section also provide the interesting direction for future research.

Keywords: Information policy, Official information, Public accountability, Public service organizations

For full Paper: fmscresearch@sjp.ac.lk