Examine the Corporate Governance Level of the Hospitality and Tourism Industry in Hong Kong

Annie Hin-cheung Ko, Pimtong Tavitiyaman, Ben Kin-fai Wong and Raymond Siu-yeung Chan

This exploratory research aims to investigate (1) the strengths and weaknesses of the hospitality and tourism industry in terms of governance practices; and (2) the governance compliance level of the industry in Hong Kong. A rating instrument is created to test five major governance areas: ‘Board Responsibilities’, ‘Disclosure and Transparency’, ‘Equitable Treatment of Shareholders’, ‘Rights of Shareholders’ and ‘Role of Stakeholders’. Results show that companies perform best in ‘Disclosure and Transparency’ and worst in ‘Role of Stakeholders’. The total corporate governance score of the industry has improved over 300% during 2003 to 2015. Nevertheless, majority of companies barely meet the minimum requirements set by the regulators; only a small number of them allocate resources to promote good governance voluntarily. According to the literature review, this is the first over-a-decade-long longitudinal research to study the trends of the corporate governance performance of the industry.

DOI : https://doi.org/10.21102/irbrp.2018.03.141.01