Owner-Managers of SMEs in IT Sector : Leadership and Company Performance

Leadership styles of owner-managers were explored in Malaysia by examining the company financial performance of SMEs in IT sector and their impact. It was justified that the study has both theoretical and contextual significance. Data were collected from 200 companies in Melaka, Johor, Selangor and Negeri Sembilan by adopting mixed methodologies that consisted of both qualitative and quantitative approaches. Descriptive statistics and correlation coefficient were used in the analysis. The findings revealed that the existence of three main leadership styles in the sample, namely; entrepreneurial, managerial, and mix of both entrepreneurial and managerial leaderships. The analysis indicated that 60 percent of firms had increased financial performance, while 35 percent firms had decreased financial performance. The impact analysis showed that entrepreneurial leadership style is more effective than managerial leadership styles and the mixed style of leadership in terms of increasing financial performance. It also has practical implications for business leaders and owner managers of SMEs in IT sector