Political Leadership according to the Principles of Sangahavatthudhamma of the Administrators of the Subdistrict Administrative Organization at Nong Bua Daeng District in Chaiyaphum Province

Abstract

This research aims to: (1) investigate the level of political leadership among Chief Executives of Sub-district Administrative Organizations (SAOs) in Nong Bua Daeng District, Chaiyaphum Province; (2) compare the political leadership of these executives, classified by personal factors; and (3) propose a political leadership model based on the Sangahavatthudhamma for these executives. The mixed-methods approach was employed for this study. The quantitative data were collected from some sample of 399 participants by using questionnaires. The statistical analysis of these data involved by calculating the frequency, the percentage, the mean, and the standard deviation by hypothesis testing. The qualitative data were gathered through in-depth interviews with 10 key informants, and the resulting data were analyzed using descriptive analysis.
The results found that:
1. The overall level of political leadership among Chief Executives of Subdistrict Administrative Organizations, was at the high level (x̄= 3.51).
2. The comparison of the political leadership styles of subdistrict administrative organization executives, categorized by personal factors was revealed that people with the different genders, ages, education levels, occupations, and incomes exhibit the significantly different political leadership styles at the 0.05 statistical significance level; therefore, the research hypothesis is accepted.
3. The political leadership based on the administrators, principles of Sanghahavatthudhamma (principles of social harmony) in sub-district administrative organization through the applied four principles of Sanghahavatthudhamma, was the key approach to enhance the political leadership and fosters the acceptance and cooperation with the publics, including to effectively and sustainably manage the local affairs. Therefore, all of the leaders should possess; (1) the generosity: they should have a public-spirited attitude and the generous power; (2) the pleasant speech by communicating with the polite action and language and listening to the reasons of the people. (3) Atthachariya was meant to perform some duties for the benefit of the community with genuine sincerity. (4) Samanattata was meant to equally treat for everyone without discrimination.