Narratives and Experiences of Community Potential Development Under the U2T Project for Enhancing Competitiveness in Creative Economy

Abstract

The community must overcome several obstacles to develop its potential for sustainable self-sufficiency and competitiveness. The objectives are to study stories and experiences toward approaches and success factors in developing community potential under the creative economy, based on the U2T project from the perspective of the sub-district system integration unit and community. This research employed a qualitative approach. Five of the 140 sub-districts of the Kasetsart University U2T project, phase 1, were included in the research sites. The purposive sampling method was applied to 25 specified key informants (five key informants in each study site, including a representative of a system integrator, a community leader, a local resident, and stakeholders involved in community development). The research instrument was a semi-structured interview guideline for individual and group interviews, which had been approved for consistency and reliability by three experts. Content analysis was used to examine the data. The results revealed four community potential development approaches, including 1) creative product development, 2) enhancement of creative tourism, 3) creative environmental conservation, and 4) creative ideas or knowledge transfer. The results of the study also found that there are seven success factors for community potential development, including 1) responding to community needs, 2) support from internal and external networks, 3) the role of community leaders, 4) systematic management, 5) participation of people in the community, 6) variety of natural resources and local wisdom, and 7) spatial work experience. The research findings are beneficial to other communities to enhance their capacity for development and being self-sufficient. Additionally, it offers an outline for key institutions to establish sustainable community development policies.