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The purpose of this paper is to discuss gaps and key challenges facing higher education in Thailand with reference to the implementation of the policy of Thailand 4.0 adopted by the Royal Thai Government.

In-depth interviews were conducted with Thai Government officials, university administrators and faculty members to formulate the concept of a creative society in Thailand. Documentary analysis of university policy documents was used to investigate the roles and practices of universities in fostering creativity and innovation. Questionnaire surveys were used to obtain views of university administrators and faculty members on the existing roles and practices of Thai university in promoting a creative society, and their level of expectation toward the roles and practices required to promote a creative society. Priority need index (PNI) and One-way ANOVA were used to identify the gaps and challenges of Thai higher education in promoting a creative society.

The concepts of the creative society found in this study were in lines with the goals of Thailand 4.0, which are to foster creativity, innovation, inclusivity, and sustainability. It was found that development of learning networks, public-private-community engagement, new mind-set and skill-set of lecturers and students, and new technology are required for a successful implementation of Thailand 4.0.

Although the author has identified some progress in Thailand toward achieving the goals of Thailand 4.0, it is clear that key factors that contribute to the fostering of creativity and innovation require further investigation. These factors include socio-cultural factors, creative learning and teaching, mind-set and skill-set, new technology and learning networks, and public-private-community engagement.

The findings of this paper can be used to identify some of the key challenges of Thai higher education in achieving the aims of Thailand 4.0.

The findings of this paper have demonstrated that successfully implementation of Thailand 4.0 requires both educational and cultural reform.

This research conducted by the author in 2013-2015 showed that some important reforms are being implemented to achieve some of the aims of Thailand 4.0.

This research aims to see whether replication occurs with the focus on the Japanese HR system, following the latest studies on expatriate management in Japan. Whereas the total number of self-initiated expatriates has hugely increased in Japan, the high turnover rate is a big issue. Can this also be evidenced with new data? How does the Japanese HR system, with its notorious reputation for unique people management methods, relate to the expats' reasons for staying in the long or short term?

Replication of research is adopted here with an interview-based qualitative method using the same research design as previous literature. The previous research focused on Chinese and Vietnamese self-initiated expatriates, who occupy the majority of expatriate positions in Japan. This study has a new target group of Thai expatriates, who have a relatively higher educational background than some other expatriates and are expected by the Japanese firms to stay over the long term.

Replication of the findings of the latest studies occurs in this research. The turnover rate is as high as other national expatiates, with similar reasons, related to the Japanese HR system. However, there are also different issues. The main reasons they give for not staying in the long-term are unhealthy work habits, followed by slower promotion and ambiguous work content/role. The Japanese HR system is a dehumanising mechanism leading to a stressful work environment, which is the most critical concern for them and the main reason they choose not to remain in the long term.

Past studies indicate an expectation gap between Japanese firms and expatriates, which is also found in this study. Additionally, an assumption gap between them about security under the HR system is also confirmed. Security means working healthily for expatriates while it means long-term employment for Japanese firms.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the transition of the accounting systems from cash based to accrual based, in Thai public universities. The focus is on the factors both influencing and affecting the accounting change.

This study takes a quantitative approach with data collected through a mail survey to the Chief Financial Officer of each of the 78 Thai public universities. Statistical analysis included both descriptive analysis and ANOVA to analyse differences between universities.

The main catalysts for change have come from both external and internal sources. The Thai government requires public agencies to adapt their accounting practices in line with New Public Management (NPM) and university management need improved information for planning and control purposes. The most important change has been to the financial accounting system with the adoption of computerised accrual accounting practices. The major factor influencing the change process is low institutional capacity of some Thai universities which is evidenced by the lack of technological resources and staff with knowledge of private sector accounting practices. Universities that either have or intend to become autonomous have given more importance to accounting system changes; and universities that have achieved more success in the change process note the importance of external consultants, and staff having an understanding and knowledge of data requirements.

This paper adds to the literature on accounting change in the public sector in less developed countries by highlighting factors influencing accounting change and factors that can be barriers to and facilitators of change. The findings provide further evidence of the issues confronted by public agencies in developing countries adopting new accounting practices and highlights the importance of training of local staff before the change process commences. Training is critical for knowledge transfer to enable staff to gain the knowledge and skills needed to assist in the change of accounting practices.

This paper presents a contribution to the government accounting change literature by highlighting public sector agencies in a developing country, Thailand. In both developed and developing countries, public universities are now operating in an environment of decreased government funding coupled with university management taking more responsibility for financial management. This study provides an insight into the changes taking place in Thai public universities in relation to the accounting system to support this new operating environment.

Discusses research related to the establish‐ment of technology parks in general, and in particular the technology park of King Mongkut’s University of Technology in Thailand. Uniquely in Thailand, this involved the university library, which gave rise to a number of key questions addressed in the project: Is there any role for the library in such a collaboration? What are the information needs and the information‐seeking behaviour of tenant staff members? What kind of information services could be offered to them? The main objective of the research was to develop a suitable model for a Thai university library in information provision to tenant firms in the first Thai technology park. This model, based on Australian data, was fine‐tuned to meet local Thai social and economic conditions.

This paper aims to contribute to the literature on global talent management by examining how multinational corporations (MNCs) from developed and emerging economies manage talented employees in other emerging economies. Specifically, it aims to understand why MNCs from developed economies are likely to face lower levels of challenge than MNCs from emerging economies when translating corporate-level talent management strategies to their subsidiaries located in emerging economies and how local contextual factors influence the translation processes.

This paper undertakes a matched-case comparison of two MNCs, one from a developed economy and the other from an emerging economy, that operate in the emerging economy of Thailand. Evidence was obtained from semi-structured interviews field visits and a review of archival documents and Web resources.

Based on the obtained evidence, this paper proposes that MNCs from developed economies tend to face challenges in terms of skill shortages, and these challenges affect their translation of talent management strategies to the subsidiary level. By contrast, MNCs from emerging economies tend to face challenges in terms of both skill shortages and the liability of origin (LOR) (i.e. weak employer branding) in the translation process. Both groups of MNCs are likely to develop talent management practices at the subsidiary level to address the challenge of successfully competing in the context of emerging economies.

One limitation of this research is its methodology. Because this research is based on a matched-case comparison of an MNC from a developed economy and an MNC from an emerging economy, both of which operate in the emerging economy of Thailand, it does not claim generalizability to all MNCs and to other emerging economies. Rather, the results of this research should lead to further discussion of how MNCs from developed and emerging economies translate corporate-level talent management strategies into subsidiary-level practices to survive in other emerging economies. However, one important issue here is that there may be a tension between the use of expatriates and local top managers at MNCs’ subsidiaries located in other emerging economies as drivers for knowledge sourcing in that the importance of expatriates may diminish over time as the subsidiaries located in those economies age (Dahms, 2019). In this regard, future research in the area of global talent management should pay special attention to this issue. The other important issue here is that it is possible that the two case study MNCs are very different from one another because of their organizational development stage, history and current globalization stage. Thus, this issue may also influence the types of talent management strategies and practices that the two case study MNCs have developed in different countries. In particular, MNCs from emerging economies (ICBC) may not have developed their global HR strategies, as they have not yet operated globally as in the case of MNCs from developed economies (Citibank). This can be another important issue for future research. Additionally, both MNCs examined in this research operate in the banking industry. This study, therefore, omits MNCs that operate in other industries such as the automobile industry and the hotel and resort industry. Future researchers can explore how both groups of MNCs in other industries translate their talent management strategies into practices when they operate in other emerging economies. Moreover, this study focuses only on two primary contextual factors, the skill-shortage problem and LOR; future research can explore other local contextual factors, such as the national culture, and their impact on the translation of talent management strategies into practices. Furthermore, quantitative studies that use large sample sizes of both groups of MNCs across industries might be useful in deepening our understanding of talent management. Finally, a comparison of talent management strategies and practices between Japanese MNCs and European MNCs that operate in Thailand would also be interesting.

The HR professionals and managers of MNCs that operate in emerging economies or of companies that aim to internationalize their business to emerging economies must pay attention to local institutional structures, including national skill formation systems, to successfully implement talent management practices in emerging economies. Additionally, in the case of MNCs from emerging economies, HR professionals and managers must understand the concept of LOR and look for ways to alleviate this problem to ensure the success of talent management in both developed economies and other emerging economies.

This paper provides policy implications for the government in Thailand and in other emerging economies where the skill-shortage problem is particularly severe. Specifically, these governments should pay attention to solving the problem of occupation-level skill shortages to alleviate the severe competition for talented candidates among firms in the labor market.

This paper contributes to the prior literature on talent management in several ways. First, this paper is among the first empirical, qualitative papers that aim to extend the literature on global talent management by focusing on how MNCs from different groups of countries (i.e. developed economies and emerging economies) manage talented employees in the emerging economy of Thailand. Second, this paper demonstrates that the institutional structures of emerging economies play an important role in shaping the talent management practices adopted by the subsidiaries of MNCs that operate in these countries. In this regard, comparative institutionalism theory helps explain the importance of recognizing institutional structures in emerging economies for the purpose of developing effective talent management practices. Finally, there is scarce research on talent management in the underresearched country of Thailand. This study should, therefore, assist managers who wish to implement corporate-to-subsidiary translation strategies in Thailand and other emerging economies.

The purpose of this study aims to understand if there are any differences in the influence of aesthetic experience and creative self-efficacy on innovative behaviors of Thai students and Chinese international students and whether creative self-efficacy has a mediating effect between aesthetic experience and innovative behavior.

Three Thai universities with Chinese international students were selected through purposive sampling. There were 329 valid responses, consisting of responses from 170 Thai students and 159 Chinese students. The data were analyzed by employing multigroup structural equation modeling.

The analysis of the differences between the students of the two countries shows that the influence of aesthetic experience on creative self-efficacy, as well as the creative self-efficacy on innovative behavior of Chinese international students, is greater than that of Thai students, while the influence of aesthetic experience on innovative behavior of Thai students is greater than that of Chinese international students.

There are some differences between Thai and Chinese students, which could be attributed to their differing environments, cultures and prior learning experiences.

This study investigated the conditions required to foster healthcare innovation. Due to the limited research and development (R&D) capability of the Thai private sector, universities are increasingly expected to be emerging sources of healthcare products. However, the lack of experience in research commercialization requires that whether and how Thai university researchers can serve this mission be explored.

A promising dental implant product development project was investigated using the single-case research methodology. In-depth interviews were conducted with three key members involved in this innovative project. Questions concerning how a team of university researchers could embark on and overcome the obstacles encountered during their entrepreneurial project were asked. Based on the conceptual foundation of academic entrepreneurship, primary and additional secondary data were analyzed to acquire knowledge of academic entrepreneurship in healthcare in an emerging economy.

Healthcare inequality has generated entrepreneurial initiatives by healthcare researchers to develop low-cost dental implants. However, their efforts have been insufficient to progress to the commercialization stage. An informal relationship among socially oriented partners, including interdisciplinary experts, not-for-profit-oriented manufacturers and early adopters contributed to this project's success.

To foster healthcare innovation, the authors’ micro-level evidence of a socially oriented partnership on an informal basis indicates the need for inter-professional governance that maintains a cross-organizational environment between healthcare researchers and external parties. The future contributions to innovation management by healthcare professionals should be enhanced. A socially entrepreneurial model of healthcare innovation is suggested for further consideration as an enabling policy option for inter-professional partnership in emerging economies.

This paper aims to investigate the current state and influential factors in the development of digital literacy of the students in Thailand’s higher education institutions.

The quantitative research method was applied with a survey conducted to collect information from the target group that consisted of administrators, lecturers and students of 116 Thai universities. Respondents included 81 administrators, 500 lecturers and 1,000 students.

The findings revealed that 61.73 per cent of the universities set digital literacy as an undergraduate program policy, 30.86 per cent set it as a student development policy, while 12.35 per cent do not have any policy in this regard. In total, 40.74 per cent of the universities establish digital literacy as the required graduates’ trait, and 22.22 per cent establish it as a graduate’s identity. The study of factors related to digital literacy development showed that the respondents see that all of the factors affect students’ digital literacy development at a high level, including infrastructures, human resources, students’ awareness, external environments, development process, university’s policy and academic management.

In Thailand, universities have seen the importance of information literacy development for students at a certain level. However, the concepts of information literacy and digital literacy differ. While information literacy mainly comprises technical skill and information management skill, digital literacy is composed of technical skill, cognitive skill and emotional-social skills. This paper presents the first research on digital literacy development in Thai higher education.

To provide information regarding international/intercultural communication problems, along with management tactics for coping and handling such problems occurring in the international business work setting in foreign companies operating in Thailand.

Exclusive 14 in‐depth interviews with expatriate executives and Thai senior employees were conducted in four Japanese, two German, and two multinational companies in Thailand. Both expatriates and Thai employees were asked to identify communication problems and describe how they managed such problems with international/intercultural partners, supervisors, or subordinates.

The sample was quite small. The subjects reacted to the interview protocol based upon their own personal experience working in eight foreign companies in Thailand, which might not represent the entire intercultural/international viewpoints.

This study provides guidelines for prospective expatriates who will be assigned to work in the Thai host country and for Thai newcomers who are interested in working in foreign companies and must prepare to cope with the problems they may have in working with foreign managers.

It is hoped to be beneficial for both expatriates and Thai employees to perceive and learn each other's understandings, needs, and expectations. Also, it is hoped that information presented in this paper can trigger more thoughts and generate further discussions in international/intercultural business communication classrooms. The study also provides a framework for further investigation of commonalities and differences in tactics for dealing with international/intercultural communication problems at work in other countries compared with those found in Thailand.

This paper aims to present a general framework for fostering research collaboration and knowledge flow between university and industry in Thailand.

With the aim of comprehending complex interactions of the university‐industry (U‐I) linkage, the adopted research methodology for collecting data is based on a combination of various approaches, such as qualitative methods encompassing in‐depth interviews, researcher participations and various documents analysis.

A framework (Government, University, Industry and Networks: G‐U‐I‐N) was developed encompassing the main factors that could make U‐I relationships more successful in Thailand. Knowledge management is an important enabler of this framework.

This paper presents the various elements (enablers) necessary for an emerging country, such as Thailand, to establish or strengthen successful collaboration and research projects between universities and industries in order to remain competitive.