Political Skill among Thai Students: The Comparison of Gender, Place of Origin, and Age

Abstract

The purposes of this study were to examine political skill among Thai students and compare political skill differences in terms of gender, place of origin, and age. This study used an 18-item of a modified Thai version of Political Skill Inventory to measure political skill. Samples in this study were gathered from 60 business students in a selected public university in Bangkok. Results indicated that the greatest political skill dimension among Thai students was “apparent sincerity” followed by “interpersonal influence”, “social astuteness”, and “networking ability”, respectively. To compare gender, place of origin, and age differences in political skill, independent samples t-test was conducted. Findings revealed no significant differences between male and female students and people with different places of origin in political skill. However, this study found a significant difference between students with different age in interpersonal influence dimension of political skill. Student aged between 18-25 years had less interpersonal influence skill than student aged above 25 years. This study was noteworthy to be the first study in Thai context that attempted to explore political skill difference between people with distinctive place of origin.