Abstract:
The objectives of this research were to 1) study human capital development in the Sa Kaeo special economic zone, 2) study the factors affecting the human capital development, and 3) propose a model for human capital development. A mixed methods research was conducted involving both qualitative and quantitative approaches. The qualitative research was conducted by in-depth interviews with 24 key informants who were public administrators, selected by purposive sampling, and a focus group discussion with 11 participants who were experts also selected by purposive sampling. This was done to determine the model of human capital development in the Sa Kaeo special economic zone and confirm the quality of the model. The data were analyzed using content analysis and interpretation. The quantitative research was conducted by studying a sample of 358 respondents from a population of 3,403 of public workers. The sample size was calculated using Taro Yamanes formula and the sample was selected by proportional stratified random sampling. The tool for collecting the data was a 5 level Likert - type rating scale questionnaire with a reliability of 0.84. The data were analyzed using percentage, mean and standard deviation. The hypotheses were tested by using stepwise regression analysis. The research results were as follows: 1) The human capital development in the Sa Kaeo special economic zone conducted 3 key activities (1) individual development; emphasizing personnel development concerning knowledge, abilities and communication skills in English, Chinese and Cambodian, (2) organization development; by providing information on knowledge management, organizational learning, being a learning organization, and utilizing information technology systems, and (3) social culture development; enhancing community strength and developing learning exchanges about Cambodia customs and culture. In 2016, a one stop service was set up so that border trade (8 months) increased to 83,920.05 million baht. It also provided 3 rai of market area for community products and increased the number of public agencies conducting knowledge management by training labor to develop their skills and English language. The quantitative research revealed that the human capital development was, overall, at a moderate level ( = 2.95, S.D. = 0.74). Considering each aspect individually, it was found that every aspect was also at a moderate level. Ranking them from high to low, they were organization development ( = 3.21, S.D. = 0.77) followed by social culture development ( = 2.92, S.D. = 0.82) and individual development ( = 2.72, S.D. = 0.80), respectively. 2) There were 3 factors affecting the human capital development in the Sa Kaeo special economic zone (1) the factor of organization management (b = 0.51) with 4 variables; organization structure, teamwork development, leaders, and organizational culture, (2) the factor of primary functions of human capital management (b = 0.14)with 4 variables; planning, recruitment, compensation and benefits and performance appraisals, and (3) the factor of special economic zone policy (b = 0.04) with 2 variables; economic corridor and border trade. These 3 factors explained 53.60 percent (R 2 = 0.53) of the variation of human capital development model at the statistical level of significance of 0.05. The qualitative research revealed that there were other 2 factors (1) the aspect of border points which should have the number of permanent points and temporary points increased and (2) the aspect of organization management which should aim to flatten the organization in order to improve flexibility and be better able to reduce rules and procedures to increase speed and convenience. 3) The proposed model for the human capital development in the Sa Kaeo special economic zone was developed by synthesizing the research findings and confirmed using a focus group discussions based on open system theory which was composed of 5 key components: (1) outcomes; composed of policy issues for carrying out rule and procedure adjustments to reduce economic disparity, develop local growth, increase productivity on trade and services promote investment, strengthen border security, and be an eco- special economic zone, (2) outputs; the results of direct human capital development by utilizing individual development, organizational development, and social culture development in order to be flexible and able to create competitive potential with other nations, (3) conversion process; reinventing management to enhance its efficiency and effectiveness by integrating relevant agencies with policy implementation, (4) inputs; developing human capital in knowledge, the ability of personnel to have skills, attitude, motivation, expertise, and proficiency based on policy implementation, and (5) environment; developing the capacity to comply with external factors directly or indirectly affecting the organization. This was the composed of context of Sa Kaeo, the eastern economic corridor and Thailand 4.0 which were all subject to the national development policy and direction using modern technology to create innovation leading to truly high quality production.