Abstract:

Corporate governance plays an essential role not just in large and listed firms but most organizations including small and medium-sized enterprises. The issue of corporate governance has been a growing area of management research and is vital to be practiced by companies since it enhances firms’, corporate entrepreneurship and competitiveness among the companies. Having contributed to the success of tourism industry in Malaysia, the tourism small and medium-sized enterprises (TSMEs) are also significant to this aspect. The study focused on 229 TSMEs in Malaysia to understand their perceptions of corporate governance practice. The TSMEs mostly consisted of tour and travel agents throughout Malaysia. The respondents were asked to indicate the role of three major domains of corporate governance practice namely the shareholders, top management and board of directors. The findings indicated high mean values for all the three domains, hence highlighted the importance of these domains in managing TSMEs. The study concludes that to successfully manage TSMEs in line with the rapid growth of tourism industry in Malaysia, the shareholders, top management and board of directors must consistently play their roles and fulfil their responsibilities to the organization. This would also significantly contribute to the effectiveness of managing all related resources in the TSMEs. Keywords: Corporate Governance, Tourism Small and Medium-Sized Enterprise, Shareholders, Top Management, Board of Director.

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