Global leadership competency among Thai foreign relations officers

Foreign relations officers (FROs) play an important role in the 21st century, where international cooperation and domestic well-being are interdependent. The high potential and good performance of FROs can help support the government’s efforts to foster citizens’ well-being. However, it seems that Thai FROs’ competencies have not been properly identified and evaluated. As a result, the objectives of this study were (1) to develop a balanced model of global leadership competency (GLC) on personality traits in a Thai context, (2) to investigate whether FROs are suitable for a GLC study, (3) to investigate FROs’ GLC on personality traits, and related factors, and (4) to investigate how to develop and improve FROs’ GLC and related competencies.The population of this study was 333 FROs working across 71 departments of 16 ministries and three independent departments of the Thai government. The stratified random sampling method was employed to select 197 FROs as the sample. Both quantitative and qualitative methods were deployed to answer the four research questions. The quantitative method using descriptive and inferential statistics was used to answer research questions one to three, while semi-structured interviews and thematic analysis were used to answer research question four.In this study, leadership traits and intercultural competence traits were combined and reduced by exploratory factor analysis to eight components as a model of GLC on personality traits. On top of that, the major results of the study are as follows: (1) FROs had a high global involvement level. They were constantly exposed to cross-cultural environments and responsibilities, so the data retrieved can contribute to a better understanding in the field of global leadership; (2) FROs had a fair level of GLC. In detail, FROs were goal-oriented and determined to work, while seeming to apparently lack the intercultural competence aspect of GLC, especially in self/other understanding. As to the underlying personality traits, their strongest personality trait was building partnerships, while they had the greatest difficulty with stress from work. Moreover, they are discouraged by bureaucracy, resulting in very poor traits in terms of confidence, leading change, and anticipating opportunities; (3) GIL, English competency, and having foreign friends/coworkers/relatives in close contact were the factors significantly affecting the GLC levels of the FROs; and (4) the five methods that the FROs frequently use to develop their competencies as well as the six kinds of support that government organizations and the management should provide to help them improve their competencies effectively were identified. In addition to the results, recommendations for government organizations and further studies are provided.