The Impacts of Internal and External Factors on Developing Global Digital Innovation: A Case Study of the Provincial Electricity Authority in Thailand

Abstract

The study aimed to investigate the impacts of internal and external factors on developing global digital innovation by means of a case study of the Provincial Electricity Authority (PEA) in Thailand. The research framework was based on the concepts of disruptive leadership, Thailand 4.0, Industry 4.0, PEA Digital Utility or Electric Utility of the Future, ICT/Digital Innovation, and Sufficiency Economy Principles (SEP). The research sample group comprised 419 PEA employees randomly selected from throughout the country. The research tools consisted of structured questionnaires on content and technical quality validated by five qualified experts. Assumptions of multiple regression analysis- normality, linearity, no multicollinearity, independence, and homoscedasticity were examined. The data verifying the assumptions were analyzed by multiple regression and PEA Digital Utility, Industry 4.0, ICT/Digital Innovation, Disruptive Leadership, and Thailand 4.0 were estimated for the development of global digital innovation. It was also found that most PEA employees, or 51.55 percent, refer to the innovation they know of as PEA Smart Plus. This is because PEA will focus on the use of communication technology to improve efficiency in the distribution system which is the foundation for further development of other parts of the system. Furthermore, most PEA employees identified innovation as being environmentally friendly.