Does Leadership Matter ? A case of Malaysian SMEs

Abstract

This paper serves two purposes. First, the authors aim to investigate whether leadership is importance in the context of Malaysian SMEs. Second, this paper intends to explore whether transformational and transactional leadership relevant to the Malaysian business leaders. Based on semi-structured interviews, it was found that leadership is important towards the success of entrepreneurial firms. Entrepreneurs who possess effective leadership behaviours tend to enhance their entrepreneurial success. More importantly, leaders of SMEs in Malaysia tend to practice transformational and transactional leadership. The originality of this paper lies on being the first to examine the leadership behaviours of Malaysian SMEs from a qualitative perspective.